Star Shinobi: Till the End of Time
by Dark Lord Sigma
Summary: Banished for failing to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto soon finds himself on a journey beyond his wildest dreams... Traveling through the Star Ocean. Older Naruto, Harem, xover with SO3 HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or SO3, both which are awesome as hell in their own ways.

Just so my fans from Naruma know, I'm still working on the next update for it but had to get this typed out while I still had the inspiration for it. I hope you all enjoy it at least almost as much as you did my other work.

Also, I know that the "Naruto gets banished by the Council" thing is way over used, but I couldn't think of a better way to have him leave the village in order to set up this hopefully wonderful story.

NOTE: I redid this chapter as I realized adding Hinata to the story actually made certain plans I have later in the fic harder, Plus quite a few out there were turned from this fic for that reason. To be honest I added her because I thought people would like to have her in it, guess I was wrong. No harm, no foul. I hope you all give this story another chance now.

Also, know that the ages of certain characters have changed as the anime states that Naruto failed the final exam 3 times so I made him a bit older, here's the listings:

Rookie 9: 15

Team Gai: 16

Naruto: 17

The mission had been simple, hunt down the Sound Ninja and retrieve one Sasuke Uchiha. Himself and his team led by one Shikamaru Nara had given chase, each one taking on one of the Sound Ninja who had taken Sasuke from the village. Naruto had ended up fighting the Strong Bone used known as Kimimaro, during the fight Sasuke had broken free of the large container they had been holding him inside of... only to rush off towards the countries border. Thankfully one Rock Lee had shown up to handle the Bone using Nin, allowing Naruto to rush after Sasuke.

He had cornered the Uchiha, trying to reason with him to return to the village, Sasuke merely replying he was finished with Kohona and would seek power with Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin. Naruto and Sasuke soon began to fight in the historic spot known as the Valley of the End, where the First Hokage faced his rival Madara Uchiha long ago. The fight was long and hard, Naruto eventually being forced to use the Chakra of the demon he held within himself, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Sasuke on the other hand had his newly acquired power of the 2nd level of the Cursed Seal, turning him into a Drag queen demon looking monster.

Both fighters had used their strongest attacks, Rasengan to Chidori... only for Sasuke to come out on top, knocking Naruto unconscious before leaving to Orochimaru's location. Kakashi Hatake, Naruto and Sasuke's Jonin sensei had found the knocked out blond, before returning with him to the village to recover from the Chidori wound he had taken.

That's where things went bad

"For failing to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, the near deaths of some of your Team mates, and failing you mission in general, we the Council of Kohona find Uzumaki Naruto to be Guilty of all charges"

Tsunade Senju, the 5th Hokage had quickly refused the sentence... however every member of the Council had agreed to it, meaning there as nothing she could do to reverse the verdict, she was however to lessen the sentence as the Council had called for his death. Instead he would be banished from the Leaf Village for the rest of his life, forced to become A Missing Nin.

Now he would soon be escorted out of the village by ANBU, forced into the dangers of the world without a soul to assist him.

What he didn't know was that his life was about to change in a way he couldn't possibly imagine.

Star Shinobi: Till the End of Time

by

DLS

with help from

MASmaster

"It's time Uzumaki", The ANBU spoke as he opened the door to Naruto's apartment, the depressed looking blond nodding as he turned to leave with the Nina, wearing his infamous Orange jump suit with a large stuffed backpack on his back, carrying his most important items... which was mostly Ramen cups he would need in the future. One his neck he wore the necklace Tsunade had given him after winning their bet a while back. However, unlike usual, he was not wearing his headband, the one given to him by his Academy instructor Iruka. The headband in question was in his right hand, as he no longer could wear it as he was not a ninja of the leaf.

"I'm ready ANBU-san", He sighed, unable to keep up his usual happy attitude as he walked over to the ninja.

"... For the record Uzumaki-san", The ANBU suddenly spoke," I wish to thank you for all you've done for this village...".

Naruto was a bit surprised by the ANBU's words, but managed a smile," No problem", He replied, the ANBU nodding before Naruto was led out of the building and down the street, the villagers smirking at him as they knew he would be gone from their sights forever more. Naruto felt happy at least about that, never having to deal with the glares any more at the very least.

After a long walk Naruto found himself at the gates, The Hokage Tsunade Senju, her assistant Shizune, his sensei Kakashi Hatake, and of course his previous teacher Iruka. He had been wanting to see off his fellow Rookies, but the Council wouldn't allow him the chance to "Corrupt them" as they put it. Shizune was the first to move, surprising everyone and Naruto himself at her boldness as she hugged him tightly, Naruto couldn't help but feel better at the warm feeling of being hugged by someone who cared.

"T-take care of yourself", Shizune told him after recovering enough, wiping some tears away as she pulled back," And don't just eat Ramen, kay?".

"Alright... Shizune-nee-chan", He replied, the woman surprised by the title before she simply gave him another sad smile, tears threatening to show again.

Next up was Iruka, who also gave him a hug," I'm gonna miss you little brother", Iruka told him, Naruto smiling once more at the title given to him as the man he saw as a brother as well. Once they pulled back Naruto moved to give Iruka his headband back, only for Iruka to push it back to Naruto," That was a gift, even with what has happened recently your still a proud Ninja of the Leaf to me", Iruka told him.

"But... Thanks Iruka-nii-san", Naruto replied, his smile a bit more fuller from Iruka's words. Naruto slipped the headband into his pocket, at the very least he would caring the first gift his sensei had given him.

Next was Kakashi, who was without his book for once,"... First off Naruto", Kakashi began, Naruto listening intently," I would like to apologize", He said, regret in his single showing eye, Naruto a bit confused by his teachers words," I was supposed to treat each of you, my students, equally and teach them so... yet I allowed myself to focus on Sasuke's training more then you and Sakura's, all because I was living in the past", Kakashi spoke, seeming to be thinking back on something,"... However I shouldn't make excuses, I failed each of you as a Sensei and I wish I could take it all back... I'm sorry Naruto".

There was a long silence as Naruto thought over his sensei's words, before Naruto smiled at his teacher," It's alright sensei... just try and do better next time... and don't be late", Naruto finished.

Kakashi was a bit surprised he had been forgiven so easily, before he allowed himself an eye smile," Right", He chuckled lightly, before reaching into the side pack on his belt, pulling out two scrolls," Since I won't be able to teach you any more I've prepared a copy of each of the 1000 jutsu I know in one of these scrolls", He said, surprising everyone there, most of all Naruto," The other has a few items I'm sure will come in handy for you in the future".

"Kakashi-sensei...", Naruto said in awe, taking both scrolls in hand, looking them both over before pocketing them and giving his sensei a bright smile," Thanks!".

Kakashi nodded, ruffling Naruto's hair before backing off, the form of a sad looking Tsunade walking up. Naruto soon found himself being squeezed to death by Tsunade's tight hug, the older woman not wanting to let him go.

"B-Baa-chan!", He gasped out," C-can't... breath!".

"R-right", She replied, pulling back with a smile to him," sorry about that", She told him, staring at him for a moment before kissing his forehead, just as she had done when he won their bet a while back, Naruto unable to stop himself from blushing just like time," Alright... I wish that idiot Jiraiya was here for this".

"Ero-sennin will be back", Naruto said with a soft smile to her," Just... let him know I said good bye".

"I'd send him out to find you... but", She said with a frown, recalling part of the reason she had gained him a reduced sentence was so he would not be able to be trained by any member of the leaf village, luckily Kakashi had found the only way past such a thing.

"It's fine... maybe I'll run into him on the outside?", He mused, giving her one final hug," Bye... Baa-chan".

"Bye Gaki", She whispered back as she returned the hug, which lasted for a good while before they pulled away from one another.

"Good Bye guys", Naruto said once more before he began leaving the village, sending the gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu a wave which they returned.

Unknown to the group, others were watching the send off, under orders from a certain Old War lover. The ROOT shinobi took off, their orders were to subdue Naruto and remove him and the Kyuubi from existence.

"Coming out of Gravitic Warp"

His eyes focused on the world that appeared before him, reminding him quite a bit of earth," So this is where he is? HER kid?", He asked his companion, who nodded to his question," Good, scan the surface of this rock and see if you can lock onto IT'S energy signature".

"Roger", His Female companion replied, doing as he asked with a typing speed that anyone would gawk at,"... I could only find one life form with an energy signature matching the target, though it seems quite repressed".

"That's all I needed to hear", He laughed, jumping up from his seat as he moved into the back of the craft," Send me down, I'll talk to him".

"Watch what you say to him", She called after him," You know how you are".

"Who? Me?", He asked innocently.

Naruto groaned as he arrived at the end of the Forest, having been Tree jumping his way towards Wind Country in order to visit Gaara and maybe stick around in Suna for a while. He had been traveling for over an hour now and was now finding himself staring a large amount of grass land what would lead him to the border of Wind Country. Naruto jumped down from the tree he was on, landing on the ground below just as he found himself surrounded with what appeared to be Five Kohona ANBU.

"W-what the!", He yelped in surprise, looking around at each of them in shock.

"Uzumaki Naruto!", One of the ANBU spoke, moving forward with a Hawk mask on his face," By the order of Danzo-sama you are to eliminated!".

"Who the hell is Danzo?", Naruto wondered, moving into a fighting position as he knew he'd be fighting for his life.

"None of YOUR concern Demon", The ROOT Nin replied sinisterly as each one began moving through hand signs," Just stand there and ta-"

Before the fighting could commence however a large flash appeared in the center of the two groups. As it died down the form of a tall man with short blond hair appeared before the ninja's very eyes. He had coal colored eyes, a black leather sleeveless top with an open V-neck, black pants made of the same material as his shirt, Black Boots, Gauntlets on his hands with the an extension like sleeve on his left arm that almost reached up to his shoulder. The man in question looked around, a bit surprised by the stares he was getting from both groups, before his eyes locked onto Naruto.

"There you are!", He said with a smile, slowly making his way towards Naruto," your Uzumaki's kid right?".

"H-huh?", Naruto asked in surprise," Y-you know my parents?".

"Of course I do, why wou-", He began to ask, only to gain a look of realization," I see, so the Old Man never told you...".

"You mean Old man Hokage?", Naruto asked, wondering who this guy was and how he knew so much about him.

"Hey you!", The ROOT growled, earning the strange man's attention," I suggest you back away, That demon has been given a death warrant, he is to die in the name of Lord Danzo!".

"Is that so?", The man asked, turning to the five men with a smirk on his face, lightly popping his knuckles," Sorry Gentlemen, but I'm afraid the blond here is coming with me, my boss would be pretty angry if I don't bring him back with me".

"Boss?", Naruto asked in confusion, before his eyes narrowed," Who the hell said I'd go any where with you!".

"Not now, we'll talk later", The man replied, waving Naruto's question off as he turned to the pissed of ROOT ninja," Look, I have no beef with you guys, just let me and the kid get out of here and you can go about your business".

"Who the hell do you think you are?", The ROOT ninja growled, moving to ready a Kunai... only to instantly feel a fist in his chest as the man seemed to instantly appear before him and shove his fist into the ninja's gut, surprising everyone there.

"My name's Cliff Fitter", The man stated with a smirk, letting the ROOT ninja fall unconscious at his feet, the other four leaping back," I'm a Klausian and a member of Quark... and your all going down!".

"Hell yeah!", Naruto called out, hands forming his single seal once more," Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", He called out, summoning 20 clones that charged forward to assist Cliff, who was a bit surprised by Naruto's clones.

"Not bad kid!", Cliff laughed, once more speeding off towards a ROOT. The ninja growled, pulling out some Shuriken, sending them flying at the rushing Cliff. Cliff seemed to smirk as he leapt over them, dropping down onto the ROOT ninja with a swing of his fists, two punches sending the ninja flying, only for a log to appear in his place," Damn, Forgot about that stupid Replacement move they use here".

"You got that right!", The ninja's voice spoke from behind a nearby tree, Cliff turning just as the Ninja leapt into view, rushing through hand signs," Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!", The Ninja spoke, a large ball of fire crashing down on Cliff from the ninja's mouth region.

"The Symbology of this world", Cliff sighed, his hands suddenly starting to glow as he hold both palms at the incoming fireball," Here's something REALLY cool!", He laughed, before her summoned an Orb of pure energy, the Fireball harmlessly hitting it as the Ninja found himself falling towards it," You see this! This is my Sphere of Might!", Cliff called out, right before the ROOT ninja hit the orb, letting out an scream of pain as he hit it, dropping to the ground soon after, scorched from the enemy. Cliff undid his Sphere, dusting his hands off," What a joke!".

Nearby Naruto's clones swarmed two of the ROOT ninja, the ROOT ninja doing taking out each one easily enough, one at a time. As they finished the last one they found no Naruto in sight... before he suddenly jumped out of the nearby forest," Rasengan!", He called out, the swirling ball of chakra in his right hand as the clone he summoned vanished. Naruto slammed the Rasengan into one of the ninaj's gut, the ROOT letting out a groan of pain as he was sent flying, crashing hard into the ground, knocked out.

"Demon brat!", The other ninja growled, sending a kick into Naruto's gut, the blond gasping as he was sent into the air, landing on his feet nearby, gripping his stomach in pain, the ninja charging forward to attack again. Before he could get into a fight with Naruto, he was struck from the side with a punch from Cliff, Naruto quickly summoning Four of his clones as the ROOT ninja was out of it from the force of Cliff's punch. The clones rushed over, One punching the ROOT ninja in the face as he called out," U!", with three of the clones kicking the Ninja high into the air," ZU! MA! KI!", The called out as each one kicked him high into the air, the original Naruto having leapt up to meet the soaring ninja," NARUTO RENDAN!", Naruto called out, slamming his foot as hard as he could into the ROOT's gut, sending him crashing down into the ground at Clff's feet, the force of the attacks and his landing knocking the ninja out.

"Not bad kid!", Cliff chuckled, giving the fallen ninja a kick to the side.

"Your not bad yourself", Naruto replied as his clones dispelled, before her looked around," Where's the last one".

"Over there", Cliff replied, pointing to where the last Ninja was making a run for it," Want me to take him out?".

"Hell no!", Naruto replied, taking off after the ninja as Cliff did as well, Naruto soon outran by the older blond," That's cheating!".

"No cheating when it comes to real combat kid!", Cliff laughed, jumping into the air as he neared the feeling nin," Here's another move of mine! Hammer of Might!", He called out, both fists encased in the same energy as his sphere from before, Cliff punched into the air, sending two high speed spheres of energy at the Ninja, hitting him in the back hard and knocking him out like the others, before Cliff landing with a smirk," Ha! I'm a one man wrecking crew!".

"Show off!", Naruto yelled at him as he continued rushing to Cliff's location.

"Whatever you say kid",Cliff replied, before looking to Naruto as the other blond rushed over," Took ya long enough, we'll have to work on your speed".

"A-alright!", Naruto said loudly, making Cliff gain a curious expression on his face," Start talking! I wanna know how you know me, Old Man Hokage, and who my parents are!".

"... Alright then", Cliff replied calmly, moving a hand to his waist in a relaxed position," I'll tell you everything you wanna know... as long as you come with me".

"Come with you?", Naruto asked, a look of confusion overtaking his look of anger," To where?".

"Well... that's where things get complicated", Cliff replied a little sheepishly," You see as I said before, I'm a member of a group know as Quark and my boss sent me to get both you and one other kid and bring you both back to her".

"Why me?", Naruto asked

"Not too sure", Cliff replied, though Naruto was unsure if this was a lie or not," But I can promise it's for nothing diabolical... I mean, I DID just save you".

"I would have been just fi-... alright", Naruto sighed, deciding to give up the argument for now," Let's say I go with you, WHERE are we going?".

"... Into space", Cliff replied, pointing to the sky.

Silence

"... Good bye crazy person", Naruto sighed, moving to walk away.

"I'm serious here!", Cliff shouted, grabbing Naruto by the shoulder," I can prove it too you!".

"Go ahead then", Naruto replied, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting patiently to see Cliff's proof.

"Hey Mirage, drop the camo", Cliff spoke into a strange device with a smirk, pointing up for Naruto to look.

Naruto blinked, before looking to where Cliff was pointing, eyes widening in shock at the sight he held. High in the sky a large silver... something was floating, it looking to be made of some kind of metal with a strange symbol on its side, Naruto quickly figured it was for that "Quark" group Cliff had mentioned. It was a few minutes before Naruto looked to a smirking Cliff.

"... S-space?", Naruto couldn't help but ask.

"Damn right kid", Cliff replied," You come with me and not only will I tell you all you want to know... but think of the things you'll see, after you speak with my boss if you want to return here I'll be more then happy to take you back... so how about it?".

Naruto gained a thoughtful look, wondering what he should do for a good while,"... You swear?", Naruto asked, eyes locking onto Cliff with a gleam of maturity that made Cliff instantly nod,"... Alright then", Naruto replied, smirking to Cliff," I'm Naruto Uzumaki, it's nice to meet you Cliff".

"Likewise, and now that we have that handled", Cliff mused with a chuckle, finding Naruto was reminding him quite a bit of someone," Ready to get going?".

"Huh? But that thing isn't here yet", Naruto replied, the younger blond confused by the strange man's words.

Cliff could only laugh as both blond;s suddenly were surrounded with the same light he had appeared in, a moment later vanishing from the planet's surface, leaving the knocked out ROOT ninja behind.

"Hm", The form of a shadowed being within the nearby forest mused, having watched the whole fight," Leader-sama will wish to know of this", Zetsu mused, before sinking into the tree and vanishing as well.

"W-what the hell!", Naruto yelped out as he and the other two he had been transported with appeared in a strange room, both blond's inside of a strange machine.

"We were just transported", Cliff informed Naruto with a smirk, ruffling his hair as he passed towards a door that to Naruto's surprise slid open as Cliff neared it," It's like that move you Ninja use... Shunshin or something right?".

"I see... but you could have warned me you jerk", Naruto replied, crossing his arms as he began following Cliff.

"It's funnier to watch your reaction", Cliff replied with a shrug as he walked down the hall they were now in," Come on, I wanna introduce someone".

The blond ninja followed Cliff into another sliding door, finding himself in the ships cockpit, three rows of side by side seats within, meaning it could hold up to six people. Naruto recalled they had one more person to pick up, meaning they could hold more people... maybe he could get someone else to come along before they left the planet?

"Naruto", Cliff spoke, snapping Naruto from his thoughts," I'd like you to meet Mirage Koas, a fellow Klausian and my partner in crime".

"It's nice to meet you both", The form of a beautiful blond haired woman spoke, wearing a strange military uniform with the same symbol as the ship on her jacket, Naruto blushing as he looked into her beautiful light blue eyes.

"Y-yeah, nice to meet you", Naruto replied with a foxy smile.

"Careful kid", Cliff whispered to Naruto, who looked to him curiously," Whatever you do, don't fall for her".

"W-who said I was!", Naruto yelped with an even darker blush.

"What are you two talking about?", Mirage asked curiously.

"Nothing!", Both men replied quickly.

"... Right", She replied, sending Cliff an "I know what you said" look before moving back to her seat.

"Well... seems I'm in trouble", Cliff mused with a frown, before looking to Naruto," alright kid, we're gonna be heading off now, if there's any last thing you wanna do before we leave... better say it now".

Naruto mused to himself, wondering if he should ask to bring someone else along... but even if he did, who would it be?

PROFILES

Name: Cliff Fitter

Age: 36 (33 currently)

Weapon: Gauntlets

Race: Klausian

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 212 lbs

Info:Cliff is a Klausian fighter with a heart of gold. At first glance, he seems to be all brawn and little brain...On the battlefield, Cliff is a madman with superhuman strength and endurance.

Name: Mirage Kaos

Age: 27 (24 currently)

Weapon: Gauntlets

Race: Klausian

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 117 lbs

Info: She's a long-time friend of Cliff and his partner in Quark. Quiet and mild-mannered, she is an excellent fighter, as befits the daughter of a dojo-owner. Cliff learned to fight at the same dojo club and throughout their youth had many matches.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or SO3, both which are awesome as hell in their own ways.

While waiting to regain my Internet I decided to write this chapter out, hope you all enjoy it.

InfinityAtmo: Glad you liked the first chapter, I love both series so I wanted to do a crossover. From what I know there's only one other SO3/Naruto crossover on the site.

Fox: Hope you haven't left this story yet as you and the other reviews I have received made me to decide to leave this only to Naruto.

Vandenbz: I saw your point and have removed Hinata. I figured Naruto and Cliff would have quite the conversations, I also find this funny because Cliff's VA is the same as Kakashi's lol.

xWindScarx10: I like your solution, so when Naruto needs help with his training he can summon Jiraiya via reverse summoning through the toads. I decided to remove Hinata as she kinda made the story a bit harder to type out, hope you still enjoy the story.

NeroSparda: Yes, I'm gonna do a three years time skip, allowing Naruto to get some training with Quark and a better understanding of the technology of the universe. Cliff and Mirage will be training Naruto over the three years, letting him grow quite a bit skill wise.

crazymexican: Yes, though he see's it as a type of Ninjutsu. I figure Nel and Maria so far, Cliff will be with Mirage, and Fayt with Sophia... though that's all subject to change.

1V2: Eh, I might do it way later in the fic, but it's unlikely.

OROgoldenpair1: I'm glad I captured Cliff's personality so well, That's what I get for playing SO3 so much I suppose, lol. The explanation of Symbology and Chakra will be in this chapter, I hope I did it well.

Reishin Amara: I've thought it over and have decided at this time no one will be coming along, I however plan on having him pop in on his planet a bit later on in the story.

* * *

"So... I'm guessing these two were important to you right?", Cliff Fitter asked Naruto with a frown, staying back a bit to let Naruto have his moment alone.

"... Yeah", Naruto replied with a soft smile, looking upon the two grave's before him, one of which had a large blade sticking out from it as it's headstone," Haku was the first person I met like myself... and he also taught me an important lesson".

"Sounds like quite the guy", Cliff mused with a light smirk, leaning his back against a nearby tree, arms crossed over his chest," And the other one... Zabuza right?".

"Yeah... the first real Jonin I ever faced off against", Naruto replied, turning his attention to the sword sticking from the ground," The Demon of the Mist...", Naruto muttered, a thoughtful look on his face as he rose from his kneeling position.

"You done?", Cliff asked Naruto curiously, the younger blond's only request before leaving the planet had been to pay his respects to these two shinobi.

"Not just yet", Naruto spoke up, surprising Cliff as he suddenly reached out and grasped the hilt of Zabuza's sword," Zabuza... Haku... I know I don't deserve this from you... but this sword, YOUR sword Zabuza, is not something you would want wasted like this... you would want it used would you not?", Naruto asked the grave, before pulling on the hilt, lifting the large sword out with a grunt from it's weight," I-it's heavy... but that's what make's it woth it".

Cliff smirked at the scene, pushing off from the tree he had been leaning against, walking over to Naruto," I see, so you came for the Meat Cleaver", Cliff noted, earning an annoyed glare from Naruto," Alright! I get it, no more jokes", Cliff laughed.

"Good", Naruto shot back, before smirking," So, you think Mirage will be back soon with what I asked for?".

"Shouldn't take too long", Cliff mused with a nod of his head," She's a Klausian like me, she shouldn't have any trouble getting her hands on your mom's stuff... though I'm surprised you don't want your dad's things".

"I don't need them... I already know all I need to know about him", Naruto replied with a frown, having moved away far enough to start taking practice swings with the heavy as hell sword," Mom on the other hand... You promised to tell me about her right?".

"Of course", Cliff agreed, watching Naruto almost fall from swinging Zabuza's sword with a laugh," Hold on, your not doing it right, let me show you...".

* * *

Mirage slipped silently out of what had once been the home of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and his wife Kushina Uzumaki. After informing Naruto of his heritage, the young ninja had been... unhappy to say the least to learn his father had been responsible for the villager's hate for him. Cliff had decided to wait till Naruto Quark's boss before explaining the situation fully to Naruto, though Mirage herself knew Naruto needed to be told of the exact reason's behind him receiving the Kyuubi soon, or he might just grow to hate his own father.

With that in mind Mirage had decided to bag a few of Minato's items that she figured Naruto may eventually want, including a few jutsu scroll's she found in a sealed room (Using some blood she had borrowed from Naruto to open it). Mirage looked to the sack that held all of the items she collected, smiling to herself as she pulled out her mobile transporter.

* * *

"Better get back to Cliff and Naruto before anything else happens", Mirage reasoned to herself, pressing a few buttons before she vanished in a flash of light, heading on towards Cliff and Naruto's location.

"There you go", Cliff told Naruto with a nod, Naruto know able to balance the sword's weight enough to be able to hold it without struggling," Now you just need a bit more practice on actually swinging the thing".

"And you'll help me bulk up and all that right?", Naruto asked Cliff curiously, still having it hard to believe he'd get proper instruction for once.

"As long as you keep your word in hearing the boss out... you won't regret it, believe me kid", Cliff informed Naruto with a smile.

"Thanks Cliff", Naruto replied with a smile back, before looking to the evening sky," Wonder what's taking Mirage so long... I hope she didn't run into more of the ROOT guys".

"Mirage can handle herself", Cliff noted, a hand moving to his own communicator to check up on Mirage," If worse come's to worse she can always transport herself out of there".

"I suppose", Naruto mused, it still being hard for him to understand how space technology worked over all... just another thing he was eager to learn more about once he got off world. The strangest thing was... he couldn't wait to leave the planet and see the stars above.

"Hey Mirage", Cliff spoke into his handheld with a frown," You almost done? the Kid's eager to blast off this rock", He finished with a smirk to Naruto, who lightly glared back at him for his word's.

"_I'm on my way..._", Mirage spoke up after a moment, Cliff looking curiously to the communicator,"_ I was able to get all the items Naruto will need"._

"... I read you loud and clear on that", Cliff said with a light smirk, understanding what she meant before looking to Naruto," You ready to go kid?".

"Yeah", Naruto replied with a smirk, pausing his swings yet again,"... If I decide not to agree with your boss's request, I'd like to stick around with you guys for a while till I find some place better... would that be fine?".

"Should be", Cliff replied, before smiling," Though I have a hunch you'll agree".

"A hunch?", Naruto had to ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep, my hunch's are never wrong", Cliff informed Naruto with a cocky grin.

"I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe", Naruto said with a teasing smirk.

"Hey!", Cliff responded, letting out a light laugh.

"_I'm here_", Mirage's voice spoke from Cliff's communicator, Cliff and Naruto looking up to find the ship dropping it's cloak for them," _Prepare for transport_".

"Roger that", Cliff replied, before looking to Naruto," Seem's we're out of here".

"Right, let's go", Naruto shot back with a smirk, taking one final look to the two grave's before him and Cliff vanished from the planet in a flash of light.

It would be a long time till the world would see Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto again...

* * *

"Hm?", the form of the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune stared out of it's cage, finding itself a bit surprised at the events happening to it's host," So... the gaki from the stars has returned, this time to bring my host along with him"

The Kyuubi let out a chuckle, shutting it's eyes once more to rest for the moment," I wonder... Will he meet the creator?", The Kyuubi wondered, letting out a laugh before returning to it's slumber.

* * *

"So Symbology and is what you call the Ninja Arts?", Naruto asked Cliff curiously, both having moved to the back seats in the ship. In the front of the ship in the pilot's seat, Mirage was lightly listening in on the conversation.

"I suppose you could put it that way", Cliff replied with a nod, not used to his new teaching roll yet," However, where on your world you need your hand seals to mold your "Chakra" into whatever technique you need it for, where we come from people use special symbols to mold their energy into whatever ability they wish to use".

"Symbols?", Naruto asked curiously, wondering if he could use Symbology to better use his own abilities... the thought of being able to use Kage Bunshin without hand seals like Itachi had sounded too good to be true.

"Yeah, most people just get them placed on their clothing or weapons", Cliff informed Naruto," Other's however just get the symbols apllied onto their own bodies like tattoo's".

"Really?", Naruto asked, before gaining an eager smirk," That's what I'll do! Then I'll look even more bad ass!".

"Well... maybe after that and when you get some better clothes", Cliff noted with a chuckle.

"What's wrong with my clothes!", Naruto demanded, looking down at the Orange Jumpsuit he wore.

"Other then the color?", Cliff asked playfully," That thing looks older then you are... plus fasion is a lot more advanced in Federation space kid, just look at me".

"Yeah... just look at you", Naruto said with a roll of his eyes," ALL black, HOW original!".

"Watch it kid", Cliff said with a smirk back at Naruto," Out here Orange is the least popular color"

"N-NANI!", Naruto yeled in surprise," H-how can that be!".

"Easy kid, I'm just messing with ya", Cliff laughed out loudly," Man, your WAY too much like Kushina", Cliff laughed out, eventually calming down," Anyways kid, I seem to recall you wanting to know how exactly I know your mom right?".

"Y-yeah", Naruto replied, calming down from Cliff's teasing as he gained a serious look onto his face," Um... how did you two even meet?".

"I met Kushina when she was on a mission for Kohona, me and my father's ship had crashed onto the planet after running into some trouble above it", Cliff began to explain," If it wasn't for her saving us from the wreckage, me and my father would have died... not only that she stuck with us till we were healed up. We explained our situation-".

"Hold on, doesn't that go against that UP3 thing?", Naruto interupted, earning a curious look from Cliff," Mirage-chan told me about it".

"True, it went against the UP3, but at the time we didn't care", Cliff explained quickly," Never been a fan of that rule... except in certain case's, like with your mom. Kushina had not only believed us, but had been excited at the idea of going off the planet. Your mom seemed to have always dreamed of venturing off beyond the stars to see what was out there".

"... I know that feeling", Naruto noted with a slight smile, having done the same many a times back in the village, wanting to escape from the life he knew and find a new one in the stars," Seems we have a bit in common".

"More then you know", Cliff chuckled, earning Naruto's attention once more," Honestly, you act just like her, though you have your dad's looks", Cliff informed him, pausing as he noted Naruto frowning when his father had been mention, Cliff just FEELING the glare Mirage was sending him," A-anyways, once we we're healed up Kushina stuck by until we could call for someone to pick us up, she even trained a bit with me".

"Surprised quite a few people when you came back from an underdeveloped Planet with some actual fighting skills", Mirage joked from her seat.

"Yeah, yeah", Cliff sighed, shaking his head at her teasing," After we left we'd come by to visit her from time to time, eventually meeting with your dad and the Old Man Hokage in secret".

"Wow... I wonder why the Old Man never told me about this stuff", Naruto wondered to himself with a frown, before putting up a smile as he noticed Cliff looking a bit concerned," Anyways, keep going".

"Well, for the next two years that's how it went... till I returned the last time", Cliff sighed, frowning as he recalled that last trip," I arrived, ready to visit the two of them and meet the baby Naruto for the first time... only to find the Village torn apart from the Kyuubi attack. I rushed to the Hokage to find out what happened, only to be told your parents had fallen in battle against it, sealing it within you to save the village".

"Wait, they BOTH helped seal it into me?", Naruto asked in surprise," B-but... why me?".

"Naruto... You need to know something about your mom", Cliff sighed, knowing it was time to fess up," Your mother was the previous container of the Kyuubi".

"Hold on there", Naruto began to retort with a surprised expression on his face," I-I thought I was the Kyuubi's first host!".

"That was a lie", Cliff replied simply, a serious look coming to his face," The Uzumaki clan have always been the containers of the Kyuubi, it was kept a secret so that the village would never treat the container like most others in the world are".

"... Like I was", Naruto noted with a frown, wondering why it had to have been HIM to end up the one hated," Still, was that the only reason it was sealed into me".

"No", Cliff continued, gaining a soft smile as he looked to Naruto," Your father was the Hokage, it was his duty to protect the village as a whole... any newborn child would have worked, but how could he the Hokage ask of another what he himself would not be willing to do".

"I... suppose", Naruto mused, frowning still as he thought over the situation.

"However, most importantly", Cliff continued, earning Naruto's attention once more," Your father TRUSTED you to contain the Kyuubi, to be able to take on the very burden your mother had held onto most of her life... in a way it was his gift to you".

"... Thanks for telling me this Cliff", Naruto spoke up, smiling soflty at now knowing the truth of why he had been entrusted with the Kyuubi," I kinda regret not taking some of my father's things now".

"Good thing I grabbed those too", Mirage noted with a smile from her pilot seat.

"W-wha?", Naruto gasped out, before smiling over at the Klausian woman," Thanks Mirage, I owe you one".

"No problem Naruto", Mirage replied, turning to give him a bright smile, Naruto of course blushing at the sight.

"Remember my warning kid", Cliff spoke to Naruto, earning a glare from Mirage," W-well! Now that that's all done, how close are we to home Mirage?".

"We'll be in range in a few moments", Mirage informed him,"... Now".

_"...is the Diplo, please identify yourself_", A voice spoke over the radio, Cliff moving from his seat towards the front.

"This is Cliff Fitter, Captain of the Eagle", He spoke in a somewhat cocky tone," We're coming in with a requested guest of the boss, please uncloak so we can land in".

"_Ah, it's good to have you back Cliff_", The voice followed with, sounding less formal," _Glad it went so well_".

"Well, the kid was easy to convince due to the circumstance's at that time", Cliff noted with a chuckle," Hope you have his room ready".

"_Of course, we got to work on it right after you and Mirage left_", The voice spoke back_,"... Welcome back you two_".

"Glad to be back", Cliff chuckled lightly, turning their transmission off as he looked to the passenger," Alright, hope your ready to meet the boss lady".

"... Lady?", Naruto asked in confusion.

* * *

"Welcome aboard", A young woman greeted the group as they boarded, looking over to Naruto with a smile," So, you must be Naruto".

"That'd be him", Cliff replied, leading the group onto the ship.

"So... are you the boss?", Naruto asked some what curiously.

"Who me?", She asked back in surprise, before smiling as she shook her head in the negative," Nope, I'm Marietta and the boss has asked me to bring you to her".

"Just him then?", Cliff asked with a curious look, before nodding," I see, then me and Mirage will just head to our rooms to rest", Cliff said, him and Mirage moving towards a set of stairs, before Cliff paused and looked back to Naruto," A word of advice when speaking with the boss", Cliff began to inform Naruto, before gaining a smirk," Don't flirt with her".

"Do you say that about EVERY girl?", Naruto asked with a frown to Cliff.

"Mostly", Marietta spoke up before Cliff had a chance, making the Klausian laugh before heading off after Mirage," Anyways, this way Naruto".

Naruto nodded as he began following after Marietta , taking the time to look around at the ship he was now in. It was still shocking that he was actually in a space traveling vessel, Naruto wondering to himself how they were even breathing... or why they weren't floating. All these things he would hopefully learn soon enough, after meeting with the Quark's leader and finding out what she wanted from him first of course.

"Here we are, this is the leader's work room", Marietta informed him with a soft smile," Please head inside, she's waiting for you".

Naruto nodded nervously as Marietta gave him a comforting smile before leaving, Naruto wondering what the woman inside would be like... and what was so important about him that she'd want to speak to him about. With a calming sigh, Naruto stepped forward, almost jumping as the door slid open.

"Please... come in", A female voice spoke from inside, Naruto wondering why she sounded so young.

His answer was the form of a girl about his own age, eyes widening as he stared at the blue haired girl before him, blushing once her green eyes locked onto his blue. She was wearing a black jacket over a black top, both of which seemed to be made of the same shiny material Cliff's vest was made from. She wore a pair of tight pants also of the same material it seemed, a pair of ankle high black boots, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He could see a strap under her coat, which rested a strange looking device, though he had a feeling it was some kind of weapon.

"U-um... your the boss?", Naruto asked in surprise, blushing a bit from her appearance," But... your my age!".

"Yes, there's a bit of a story behind that", She informed him with a small smile, moving closer to him," I'm Maria Traydor... and your Naruto Uzumaki".

"Nice to meet you", Naruto replied with a smile of his own, lightly rubbing the back of his head," So... you wanted to talk to me I'm told".

"Yes", Maria informed him, gaining a serious expression," Recently... me and my organization learned a bit of information pertaining to me and possibly another like me hidden away on a remote laboratory. In that information we were able to gather, not only myself and this other were mentioned... but the name Uzumaki was also within it's confine's".

"Uzumaki?", Naruto asked in surprise, wondering why the name of his mother's clan had been listed in a lab on a planet not his own," What did it say?".

"Not much... only that their work had been evolved from that family in particular", She continued to explain with a frown as she thought back to the file she had read," It seems the Uzumaki family had a special power unlike any other they had seen on other planets. While your planet itself is filled with people who have found a way of using symbology, along with the random bits of technology they have some how been able to create... your planet in general is an oddity. More so, The Uzumaki clan seemed to have a special ability when it came to making those known as the Biju submit to them,,, Why that information was so helpful to their work I don't know yet, However it made it that much more important for me to meet with you".

"So... my clan had such a power", Naruto noted to himself, wondering if that was the reason his clan had been the one's to hold the Kyuubi,"... I don't know anything about that power you speak of... Was that all you needed me for?".

"No, of course not", Maria replied, regaining her smile from before," I wouldn't have had Cliff bring you off your world just for that... I'm sure your wanting to return to your planet... but if you were willing I was hoping you would consider joining Quark".

"N-nani?", He asked in surprise, not having expecting such an offer... though he had secretly hoped they wouldn't send him back home," Y-you mean I can stay here on this ship as a part of your organization?".

"Only if you wanted to", Maria informed him seriously," I'm not one to force such a thing on another person... no matter how much I might need them".

"I see", Naruto replied with a smile, knowing he would like it here if everyone was as kind as Maria, Mirage, and Marietta had been to him... Cliff wasn't so bad either he supposed,"... I'll join, Not too sure on the tag a long, but I'd be more then happy to stay on this ship with you as a member of Quark".

"Good, I was hoping for that", Maria informed him, her smile growing as she held a hand out to him," Well then, Naruto Uzumaki, welcome to Quark".

Naruto nodded, accepting her hand as the sealed the deal with a handshake," Glad to be on board", He replied, knowing from that point on everything would work out.

* * *

**Three years later**

Cliff Fitter let out a sigh of annoyance, the Klausian making his way through the ship towards the training area that had been set up just for a pair of their members. The past three years had been different to say the least, Maria having become more comfortable in her leading position, the crew had been quite happy, eve Cliff himself had been enjoying how the atmosphere of the ship.

Cliff stepped through the sliding doors of the Training room, his eyes moving onto the form of Mirage," He still at it?", Cliff asked her curiously.

"Or course he is", Mirage informed Cliff with a slight smile to him," Why, does the leader have something for us to do?".

"Yep, Maria was finally able to get the location of the other one", Cliff informed Mirage with a smirk, his gaze turning towards the area Naruto was training," She wants me and Naruto to go pick him up, Along with you of course".

"Only because she doesn't trust you to drive any more", Mirage noted in a teasing tone, making Cliff gain a sheepish look.

"Hey, the kid had just hit 18 and I felt he deserved the right to get hammered", Cliff tried to explain," Not my fault his tenant made it harder for him to get so... which of course led to us having that contest".

"THEN you had the bright idea of trying to drive the ship back here", Mirage noted with a smirk, enjoying THAT memory quite a bit," If I recall, after you JUST missed us and we had you guys on board, you asked me to marry you and Naruto went and barfed on Maria's feet".

"I GET it!", Cliff spoke up with a blush, recalling the annoyed looks he and Naruto had gotten from both women the next day," Just get him for me will ya".

"Of course", She giggled out lightly, moving to her feet before moving over to the other side of the room towards Naruto," Naruto, the boss has a mission for us".

Naruto Uzumaki, age 20 and now a bit taller then Mirage, paused his practice swings, having long since gotten used to Zabuza's blade. Naruto's hair had grown to reach just under his shoulders, only since the women on the ship had encouraged him to let it grow out. On his forehead he now wore a headband like the one's from his planet, this one however bearing the symbol of Quark. He still had the headband given to him by Iruka, but kept it locked away in his room so as to not lose or damage it. Naruto had traded his Orange jumpsuit out, once more due to the women on board forcing him to change out of it. He now wore a sleeveless black duster made of the shiny black material that most people in space wore, the Orange swirl that was the Uzumaki clan symbol placed on the back of it. Under it he wore a black tanktop, it fitting some what tightly to show the muscle he had gained over the last few years. His arms were bared, a few symbols etched into his skin to better to use his ninjutsu and the bit of Symbology he had learned. He also wore a pair of black pants with Orange flame designs on the hem of it, having decided to also switch out his foot wear for something new, getting a pair of Zori made from the same material as most of his clothing. One his hands he wore a pair of black gloves, on the top of which had Orange swirl of his clan.

"About time", Naruto spoke up with a smirk, not winded in the least as he slipped his sword onto his back, fitting it into the holder he had under his coat as he moved over to Naruto's side," It's been getting pretty boring lately, Federation isn't as fun to mess around as they used to be", Naruto noted with a sigh, him and Mirage moving before a smirking Cliff," So, what does Maria-chan have planned for us this time?".

"She found the other kid", Cliff informed him with a serious look, crossing his arms over his chest," Seems he's vacationing on Hyda with his family".

"Lucky him", Naruto noted with a frown to Cliff," So how are we going to convince him to come along with us? I doubt he'd be willing to come along with an Anti-Federation group like Quark".

"Shouldn't be too hard... seeing as a Vendini ship was spotted heading towards Hyda", Cliff followed with, frowning at his own words.

"Figures, They ARE kind of after the same thing as us", Naruto noted with a smirk, before looking to Cliff," So, shall we go in and save the kid?".

"Right away", Cliff replied, before returning the smirk," Just try not to get your butt kicked too fast now".

"By Vendini? Not a chance", Naruto chuckled, before looking to Cliff," So, what's this kid's name anyways?".

"Fayt", Cliff replied with a smirk," Fayt Leingod".

* * *

There you go, hopefully the next chapter will get out quicker then this did. This chapter was mostly to let Naruto leave the planet, join Quark, before doing the time skip for him to be more skilled, closer to the age's of the girls he'll be paired with, and finally to have him be able to adapt more to his new life in space.

Now, I am unsure on certain pairings and would like the opinion's of my reviewers.

First off, should Maria be a part of Naruto's Harem or be paired with Fayt?

If with Fayt, who should Sophia be paired with?

Also, I have considered making this a NarutoxNel only fic and would like your thoughts on the subject

Current Pairings are as followed

NarutoxNelxMaria?x?x?

CliffxMirage

FaytxSophia?

Till next time, Peace!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or SO3, both which are awesome as hell in their own ways.

InfinityAtmo: Claire hm? I'm unsure whether I'll do that or not, as I'm currently unsure if I'll make this a Naruto/ More then one person thing at the moment anyways. I'll think about it though.

Vandenbz: I wish I read this review before working on the fic, your idea sounded like it could have worked... sadly I was already satisfied with my work that I didn't feel like changing it, lol. Your ideas have quite a bit of merit and I am currently leaning on making it just a Naruto/Nel fic, but I still am not totally decided.

OROgoldenpair1: I agree on the Harem term, I just use it because that's how most fics refer to such pairings as... I'm open to a better term for it if you have one, lol. I'm playing through the game again for this fic and have not yet gotten to Maria's part in it, I only lightly recall her personality at the moment so I'm waiting till I have a total understanding of her character before decided on the pairings... AM leaning towards just Naruto/Nel though.

ChaosRune: Hmmm... Flashbacks will be added I think in order to show you those scenes then :) I have a nice little plan when it comes to Item Creation actually as well as quite a nice way to work with Kyuubi... as well as the other Bijuu when the time comes.

A.K.U.: I see your point and as I have informed others I just might do a single pairing.

5-digit: I see your point, I'm actually trying to put more focus into this fic while taking a break from my Naruto/Negima fic, so expect updates to pick up.

* * *

"This kid is starting to annoy me", Naruto informed Cliff as they made their way through the forest of Vanguard III, Cliff leading the way as he used his own communicator's tracking system to follow their targets beacon," First we lose him at Hyda, then we catch up to the ship he was on, ONLY to find it destroyed by the Vendeeni, THEN we track him to this planet, only to find his escape pod scraped and empty!".

"Calm down Naruto", Cliff said with a cool smirk to his partner," Think of it this way, because he's all over the place, it makes it just as hard for the Vendini to find him as it is for us... and we only found him because we were able to lock onto his communicator's frequency".

"Hopefully the Vendeeni weren't smart enough to do the same", Naruto replied with a frown, pausing just as Cliff did," Which way now?".

"Hmm... Left", Cliff noted, looking in that direction," From what I can tell, there are some ruins in that direction".

"Wonder what the kid is doing there", Naruto spoke, walking past Cliff in order to take the lead," I'm hoping to run into some trouble on the way".

"Who knows, knowing our luck we just will", Cliff laughed, following after Naruto as they entered the ruins of Vanguard III.

The area was littered with what had to be the animals of the planet, the most vicious of which seemed to be strange Mushroom like creature's. However, seeing as they only attacked if you got close enough to their young, the pair decided to leave them be. They eventually came upon a large building that seemed mostly standing, though the door to it seemed locked.

"That's just great", Naruto sighed, taking a few steps back," watch out, I'll force it open", Naruto said, the tattoo's on his arms starting to glow.

"Hold it Naruto, If it's locked that tightly it means the kid we're looking for couldn't have gotten through either", Cliff noted, before frowning," Unless he locked it behind himself", Cliff mused, before blinking as he noticed his communicator lost the signal to their targets communicator," Damn, his signal's gone!".

"Yet another problem", Naruto mused, his tattoo's losing their glow as he looked to Cliff," Just how are we supposed to find him now?".

BOOM!

Both men blinked, before rushing towards the sound that came from the back of the building, finding another door leading inside.

"... I feel stupid", Cliff noted with a frown, wondering why he hadn't thought to check the back for a door in the first place," Let's hurry, I'm guessing the kid's in trouble".

"As you wish... stupid", Naruto chuckled, rushing in while dodging a swing from an annoyed Cliff.

The two charged in, following the echo of another loud sound of a blaster being shot, rushing past the annoying Skeleton like creature's they ran into along the way. Eventually they came to the entrance of a room, inside a few voice's could be heard".

"Found him", Cliff sighed, quite glad they had gotten to Fayt first.

Naruto nodded, looking in to find their 19 year old target facing off a man he had seen on Wanted Posters a few years back, went by the name of Norton. A small time criminal, Norton had been captured by the Federation... only to have the ship carrying him have gone missing. So this is where he ended up was it?

"-hat's why you've been raiding Whipple! ", The blue haired teen Fayt demanded of Norton with a glare to the smirking man.

"Yeah, something like that... You're a smart kid, That's why I've been raiding the village, and that's why you gotta die!", Norton laughed out in response, raising the large Blaster Rifle he had held in his right hand," Sorry! You'll be happy to know I'm gonna make the most of those parts I stripped from yer escape pod though!".

"Should we jump in?", Naruto asked Cliff, only to have his partner shake his head in the negative," But the kid's not gonn-".

"Wait just a moment more... I wanna see something", Cliff said with a serious expression, eyes locked on the scene before them.

"Hm?", Naruto asked, following Cliff's gaze to find Fayt looked quite angry from Norton's words, the teenager's forehead starting to glow with a bluish light,"... I see".

"It's guys like you...", Fayt muttered, eyes locked onto a now confused Norton.

"Huh?", Norton asked, taking a step back as the blue glow began to grow," W-what the!".

"Ah, there you are!", Cliff suddenly spoke up with a smile, moving out from the spot he and Naruto were hiding, The Klausian making his way over to Fayt while ignoring Norton," We thought we lost you when your distress signal went out, might never have found you if it weren't for those explosions".

"Yeah, it's been quite annoying tracking you down in all", Naruto said as he followed Cliff out, smirking at Fayt, whose blue light show had dimmed down once the two Quark members walked into view.

"What do you two want!", Norton demanded, quite worried at being outnumbered down," You two aren't some of those Federation guys, are ya?".

"Us!", Cliff asked Norton in surprise, before laughing," YOU think WE'RE Federation soldiers? That's a laugh!".

"I feel so... insulted", Naruto said with a phony frown," Do we REALLY look that prim and proper?".

"W-well then who the hell are you guys!", Norton demanded with a growl, aiming his blaster at them.

"I'm Cliff Fitter", Cliff began to introduce himself," A Klausian and member of Quark".

"A-A Klausian!", Norton repeated in shock and fear.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze", Naruto followed with, pouting playfully at Norton's reaction to Cliff's introduction," All around universal bad ass and Quark's Shinobi Supreme".

"The hell is a "Shinobi Supreme" supposed to be?", A clueless Norton demanded, earning an annoyed look from Naruto.

"Sorry, no time to explain", Cliff said, holding back a smirk from Naruto's annoyance," We're kinda in a hurry you see, so just let us have Fayt, that Earthling boy over there and we'll be on our way, We have no intent on butting into whatever ya got going on over here".

"Speak for yourself", Naruto muttered, wondering why just because Cliff was a Klausian everyone they ran into was more afraid of HIM.

"Wait a second, how do you know my name?", Fayt asked Cliff and Naruto, quite confused as to what these guys wanted with him.

"Let's not sweat the details", Cliff replied with a smirk to Fayt, before pointing at him," Suffice it to say, you're our man".

"Wow... way to make us sound like a pair of creeps", Naruto noted with a roll of his eyes.

"I didn't mean it in THAT way!", Cliff said with an annoyed look to Naruto, earning a confused look from Fayt, who was wondering if these two were trustworthy.

"Hold it right there!", Norton suddenly yelled out, causing the three others to turn towards the criminal," Move and I'll blast ya!".

"... Are you talking to us?", Cliff asked curiously.

"I hope so", Naruto followed with, smirking lightly.

"You think you can fool me? There's no way a Klausian would come here!", Norton yelled angrily, waving his blaster around like a maniac, before gaining a vicious smirk," You're both probably some sorta spies! It's so obvious! Har har har!".

"... Wow, this guy is a MORON", Naruto noted with a deadpan expression, wondering why Fayt had to have ended up dealing with a guy like this and drag them along into it.

"Look, since I'm such a nice guy, I'm gonna fill you in on a little secret", Cliff began with a sigh, before gaining a serious expression that made Norton look a bit uneasy," That gun you have there has no effect on us Klausians... You didn't know that?"

"Sh-SHUT YOUR PIE-HOLE!", Norton roared out, shooting a single shot at Cliff. Cliff in a matter of seconds charged forward, dodged the incoming bolt, before throwing a fist at Norton's chin, pausing it before it hit... just as the blaster bolt hit the wall behind where he had been standing a moment ago. Norton gained a shocked look, frozen in fear of what might soon happen.

"All right, I'm done lecturing!", Cliff spoke out coldly, looking quite unhappy,"Time to teach you lesson! "

"About time", Naruto said with a smirk, drawing his sword with just his right hand, before looking to Fayt," You in kid?".

"... Yeah", Fayt said after a moment, gaining a determined look to his face as he drew forth his own blade of simple design.

"Y-you...", Norton began to speak, only to growl as he jumped back and began firing a barrage of energy bolts at the group," YOU ALL DIE!".

Fayt quickly rolled forward under the incoming bolts, Naruto leaping over them with his left hand joining his right on the hilt of his blade. Cliff merely dodged the bolts, keeping Norton focused on himself. Fayt made it to Norton first, swinging upwards to knock the blaster from Norton's hands, much to the surprise of the criminal. As the blaster soared into the air, Naruto swung at it, cutting through it and destroying it. Just as Norton gained the idea he should run, he forund Cliff before him once again, glaring hatefully right before slugging the criminal in the face... HARD.

"N-no... It's... MINE!", Norton managed to gasp out after being sent crashing into the ground, right before he fell into unconsciousness.

"Hmph... So much for that guy", Cliff said while dusting his hands off with a smirk," However, I DID warn him".

"Oh YES", Naruto said with a roll of his eyes, replacing his sword onto his back," Mister "Your gun doesn't work on us KLAUSIAN'S!"... But they DO work on me and the kid, what would have happened if he shot at US instead?".

"... I had a hunch he wouldn't", Cliff replied simply, looking away from Naruto with a sheepish look.

"Yeah yeah", Naruto sighed, moving over to the unconscious Norton," Let's see... seems this is all that's left", Naruto mused, pulling Norton's own Communicator out before tossing it over to Fayt," There, to replace the one you destroyed".

"Ah", Fayt replied, catching the communicator before pocketing it," Well... I'd like to thank you guys, you kinda saved my life".

"Woah!", Cliff interrupted with a chuckle," Don't go thanking us yet... we're kinda here to abduct you".

"What!", Fayt replied with a surprised look.

"Get him all worked up why don't you", Naruto sighed with a roll of his eyes, this whole situation reminding him of when he had been abducted years prior," We're not gonna hurt you kid, It's just our boss wants to meet you... hence why we came all the way to this rock to find you".

"Boss?", Fayt questioned, before gaining a look of realization," You mean Quark's boss".

"That's right, Our leader wants to see you... But you've sure made it a tough job", Cliff mused with a frown to Fayt," First, we went to Hyda and ran into that mess, thanks to you, Then we get here and find you poking your nose into matters better left alone".

Naruto nodded in agreement, right eye lightly twitching as he recalled how annoying it had been to track Fayt down. Cliff had been lucky as hell to be able to track Naruto down so easily back then.

"Geez, you both make it seem like Hyda got attacked because of me", Fayt sighed drolly, not noticing both Naruto and Cliff exchange quick glance's at his words.

"… Just kidding, don't sweat it", Cliff followed with, gaining a smirk as he tried to ease the tension," At any rate, we got you now and we did rescue you, so no complaining".

"Besides", Naruto spoke up, folding his arms behind his head," You wanna find your old man right? Well the oh so friendly Vendeeni have him captive at the moment".

"Dad?", Fayt questioned with a shocked look," But why!".

"No idea", Cliff replied, lightly looking away as he said it," All we know is he was kidnapped at the Evacuation Center of Hyda".

"What about my mother!", Fayt demanded, suddenly grabbing a surprised Cliff by his collar," And Sophia!".

"Well, we know your mom's safe, She should've already arrived at Remote Station #6", Naruto said with an amused smirk, finding the look of surprise on Cliff's face pretty amusing," We don't know about the girl, we had my hands full just trying to track down your escape pod".

"...How do you both know all this?", Fayt asked Naruto, letting Cliff go," And what else do you know!".

"Not much else", Naruto said with a shrug.

"We DO know what your old man was researching though", Cliff said while fixing his collar.

"You mean symbological genetics?", Fayt asked Cliff," My dad's an authority in that field, so it's no surprise you've heard of him".

"Right, symbological genetics and 19 years ago…", Cliff began, only to pause before shrugging,"Ah, never mind. That doesn't matter right now".

"Uh...", Fayt followed with, a bit curious as to what Cliff had been about to say.

"C'mon! Ya don't have any other way off this planet, do ya?", Cliff asked him with a smile," Look, I'm sure things will clear up if you just come with me, besides, you'll be able to see yer old man again."

"But according to you two, he's already being held by the Vendeeni!", Fayt retorted with a light glare,"How exactly will I be able to see him?".

"Simple", Naruto said with a cocky smirk," Quark will rescue him for you... we always DO like messing with the Vendeeni... and the Federation", Naruto spoke, muttering the last part.

"And WHY would an Anti-Federation organization want to help my father?", Fayt asked Naruto with a suspicious look coming to his face.

"Well…tell ya what, it's kinda complicated", Cliff spoke before Naruto could retort," Let's not get into that right now... So, are you coming or not?".

Fayt seemed to think it over, before nodding lightly," Alright, I'll go with you two", He informed the pair," But, could we stop off at Whipple first? I want to make sure the boy gets back safely", Fayt finished, looking to the unconscious child lying nearby.

"Sure, Whatever", Cliff sighed," I still think you shouldn't have gotten involved".

"Says YOU", Naruto said with a smirk to Cliff.

"I thought we agreed THAT never happened", Cliff said with a light glare to Naruto.

"Only because Mirage would kill you if she found out", Naruto chuckled.

Fayt looked at the two in confusion, unsure of just who he had decided to join up with... it might have been better to just have let Norton shoot him.

* * *

"Just finish up quickly and get back here", Naruto called to Fayt as the blue haired teen carried the unconscious kid on his back into the village," No dawdling!".

"Got it!", Fayt called out before vanishing from Naruto and Cliff's view.

"So, what do you think of him?", Cliff asked his fellow blond curiously, a serious look on both their face's.

"He's one of those follow the rules type's", Naruto mused with a frown," It might be a while before he starts thinking beyond what's been drilled into his head by his parents and the Federation".

"Yet he went against the UP3", Cliff said with a chuckle," Maybe he's more like you then you think".

"Possibly", Naruto mused with a smirk of his own," We'll just have to see how far he's willing to go... Though I still think we could have given him a bit more information".

"Leave that to the boss lady", Cliff replied with a frown," Like with you, it's best to let her explain it".

"I suppose", Naruto mused, looking over towards the village as he found Fayt heading back," Hm, that was quick".

Fayt soon ran up to the pair, a light smile on his face as he seemed to be happy he had been able to do something nice for the children he had been staying with on the planet.

"You ready?", Cliff asked Fayt, arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah", Fayt replied, taking one last look back at the village," I'm ready".

"Alright, Now, you remember that cliff near your escape pod?", Cliff asked Fayt with a smirk," Our way out lies beyond there, Let's go!".

"Got it", Fayt replied, before following Cliff and Naruto.

Naruto sighed, hoping things would be smooth sailing from this point on, after all the trouble they'd already gone through. However, he had a feeling him might not be so lucky this time around.

* * *

The group had made their way quickly through the forest, making their way through the strange jelly like creature's that inhabited it. Naruto gave Fayt a quick look over, mentally comparing the boy to Maria, once more wondering what his own connection was to all of this. He had been told his mother's family name had been listed in files Maria had... was there something special about himself and his mother's side of the family that he didn't know about?

If so... just what was it and how could he make use of it?

Naruto was snapped from his thoughts as they reached the wreckage that had been Fayt's escape pod, Naruto looking over for any parts that could be made use of... but there didn't seem like anything that they didn't already have. Any of the ships real useful parts had been taken by Norton's gang and used by the bandit leader himself.

"Hey, it's me", Cliff's voice spoke, the Klausian speaking into his transmitter," We're at the location",Transport us up as soon as you can... Hmm? Oh, no problem", Cliff continued with a smile, Naruto rolling his eyes at his partner's words, mentally recalling how annoying it had been to find Fayt," We got him... I said it's okay... I haven't done anything!".

"What's that about?", Fayt asked Naruto curiously, wondering why Cliff suddenly was wearing a sheepish look on his face.

"Ever heard the term "Whipped"?", Naruto asked with a light smirk to the teen, who blinked in confusion for a moment before gaining a look of understanding.

"Oi! You shut up over there!", Cliff called out with a glare to Naruto, before returning to his transmitter with a sour face, which quickly shifted to a sheepish expression as a loud voice spoke through the transmitter,"Sorry, Naruto was just being his usual moronic self... Yeah, I know, Now hurry up and get us outta here", Cliff said with a sigh, before cutting the transmission, his gaze shifting to Fayt," Our ship'll be here soon, Once we're ready it's good riddance to this hunk 'o rock"

"The ship's not that big though", Naruto followed with, walking over to Cliff," but it's packing a gravitic warp engine, so it's quite the speedy little clunker".

"Don't talk about my baby that way", Cliff said with a challenging tone to Naruto, who merely stuck his tongue out at the Klausian.

"Hey", Fayt spoke up, interrupting the two... both turning to look at them at the same time," I've been meaning to ask you guys something".

"What would that be?", Cliff asked curiously, arms crossed over his chest as he shifted into a more relaxed stance, Naruto nodding in curiosity as well, eyes becoming slit like.

"Why does Quark's leader want to meet with me?", Fayt asked, looking unsure," I'm just a college student from Earth!".

"Oh…um…'no comment?' ", Cliff offered up with a sheepish grin, Naruto looking away as well," Heh... That's not doing it for you, is it?".

"No, it's not", Fayt said with a light glare.

"Let's see, well… I guess the biggest reason would be… Our leader wants

to chat with you?", Cliff offered with a bright smile, making Naruto slap himself on the forehead.

"Nice try, but that's avoiding the question", Fayt accused with a harder glare," Why's your leader want to meet with me?"

"Look kid, we don't know any more then you do, we're just the grunts here", Naruto spoke up with a sigh, hands folded behind his head," Our leader wants to speak with you and that's all we know".

"...And that 'something' is…?", Fayt asked with a frown, not liking at all the response he was getting.

"Well, You'll just have to come with me and find out for yourself is all", Cliff informed Fayt with an apologetic smile," Sorry, kid, but we don't know much more than that".

Before Fayt could speak up again, the sight of Cliff's ship the Eagle appeared far above them in the skies, Fayt gaining a relieved look to see such a thing again, having at one point feared he'd be stuck on the planet for the rest of his life.

"That's our cue", Cliff spoke up, motioning for Fayt to join him and Naruto," Get a bit closer so we can be beamed up".

"I love this part", Naruto admitted with a kid like tone that surprised Fayt, having figured the blonde wasn't the type.

"... I got ya", Fayt said with a light smile as he joined the two, a flash of light suddenly taking hold of them before they were taken off the planet up into the ship above.

* * *

"Welcome back", Mirage greeted the three men as they entered into the cockpit of the Eagle, a kind smile on her lovely face that made Fayt blush in response, Naruto mentally smirking as he recalled his similar reaction to the woman he saw more as an older sister these days".

"Sorry to keep ya waiting'", Cliff informed Mirage with a smile, before looking back to Fayt," This is our navigator, We leave the day-to-day operation of the ship to her", Cliff explained to Fayt, before looking back to Mirage," Mirage, this is our target"

"Yes. I knew right away", Mirage informed Cliff with a light smirk, before looking to Fayt with her previous smile," Nice to meet you, Fayt. I'm Mirage Koas".

"N-nice to meet you, too", Fayt lightly stuttered out, his blush still coloring his cheeks.

"Oh boy", Naruto muttered lowly, wondering if he had been that bad, before he noticed Mirage's attention moving onto him," Before you ask, I made sure Cliff didn't drink a single drop".

"ONE time... just one time I get a little drunk", Cliff muttered angrily, recalling the events that led to Mirage making sure Naruto never let him drink on the job any more.

"Good", Mirage giggled, before lightly ruffling Naruto's hair," I'm glad I can count on someone around here".

"Of course", Naruto chuckled lightly, a mild blush of his own coming to his cheeks as Cliff watched on with a some what jealous look.

"Anyways!", Cliff interrupted, lightly pushing Naruto back a bit, earning a death glare to the back of his head," We should get moving, don't wanna keep the boss waiting do we?".

"Of course", Mirage said with a nod, turning around as she moved back to her Pilot's seat," Everyone get buckled in so we can depart".

"Come on", Naruto said to Fayt, motioning the enamored boy to a nearby seat before taking one across from him to the left.

"So...", Fayt began to asked once he was buckled in and the ship began prepping for take off," Are Mirage and Cliff...?".

"It's obvious their into each other", Naruto replied in a low tone so his fellow blonde's couldn't hear him, a smirk on his lips," Cliff just isn't ready to either admit it or be tied down... and Mirage is patient enough to wait on the moron".

"I... think I understand", Fayt replied with a light frown, biting back a yelp as the ship suddenly took off into space, Fayt's gaze returning to Mirage once more.

Naruto rolled his eyes, knowing it wouldn't be that long till Fayt got used to being around Mirage.

"Well, let's get a move on, The boss lady'll be expecting us", Cliff spoke up to Mirage from his co-pilot seat besides Mirage's," The rendezvous point is Beta-747-372-406... You got that, Mirage?"

"Roger", Mirage replied, lightly typing in the coordinates," Engaging conventional engines… Gravitic warp core, normal"

"Hey Fayt, you okay?", Cliff suddenly asked as he looked back to check on their new passenger, before noting Fayt's locked on gaze towards Mirage," Oh, and listen, don't fall for her, She may look pretty but she's a Klausian", Cliff began to warn Fayt," Any funny ideas, and yer liable to meet a swift, yet painful, death"

"Hey, w-wait a sec!", Fayt said, blush returning full force to his face," Who said I was falling for anyone?".

"Relax! I was just warning ya", Cliff informed Fayt with a teasing smirk.

"Ignore him kid", Naruto spoke up with a smirk of his own," He just doesn't want anyone going after Mirage and taking her away from him".

"Oi!", Cliff said with a glare to Naruto, a light blush coming to his cheeks as he pointed his right index finger at Naruto," Don't make me come back there!".

"Bring it!", Naruto said with a fierce smirk, unbuckling himself as he jumped onto his seat, waving Cliff towards him.

"Boys", Mirage suddenly spoke in a sweet sounding tone that made both of her fellow blonde's freeze in place, Fayt watching this all with a confused expression,"... What do we NOT do while in Gravitic space?".

"... Sorry Mirage", Both said with fearful looks as they quickly sat back down in their seats and buckled up, both seeming to be waiting for her response.

"Good", Mirage followed with, using her normal tone, resulting in both Naruto and Cliff letting out sighs of relief.

"Um...", Fay began, still looking a bit confused at what had just happened," I…was wondering, Just how long will it take till we get to your leader?".

"Oh, we'll be there soon", Cliff spoke up, recovering from the fear that had engulfed him moments before," It's about three hours to the rendezvous point", He informed the teenager, before looking to Mirage," Mirage, I'm gonna go take a shower, I'm leaving you in charge".

"Why don't I ever get to be in charge?", Naruto asked with a playful pout.

"Because your a moron", Cliff shot back with a mocking smirk, which Naruto returned with a flip of his middle finger.

"Oh Cliff", Mirage suddenly spoke up, frowning as she picked something up with the ships sensors," It looks like you can forget that shower".

"Huh? What is it?", Clif asked as he sat back down in his seat, looking over his own monitor.

"I've just detected a gravitic space anomaly up ahead", Mirage informed him while trying to figure out just what was causing it," I'm bringing us out of gravitic space to avoid it.".

"You serious?", Cliff asked with a surprised expression," You think it's hostile?".

"Just great", Naruto groaned from his seat as they pulled out of gravitic space, a frown on the ninja's face," THIS is the part I hate about space travel".

"We're back in conventional space", Mirage began to report, a frown coming to her lips a moment later," Two Vendeeni battleships detected 400,000 km ahead".

"An ambush, eh?", Cliff noted with a smirk, arms crossed over his chest," Man, it's bad enough having to worry 'bout Federation ships... What do you think Naruto?", Cliff asked as he spun around in his seat to look to Naruto.

"Might as well see if we can talk ourselves out of this", Naruto replied with a frown still on his face," Last thing we need is a space battle with our current cargo".

"Also means you won't get sick", Mirage noted from her seat, a light smile on her face.

"Exactly", Naruto quickly replied, frowning harder.

"Alright then", Cliff said, looking to Mirage with a nod of his heads," Call them on the comm link".

"Roger", Mirage replied before activating the comm link in order to connect to the other ships," Connection confirmed… Okay, the link's open.", She said after a moment, looking to Cliff.

"Uhhh… This is the Eagle, a Klausian ship", Cliff began to speak to the Vendeeni, seeming a bit unsure of what to say," We don't want any trouble with ya".

"You're wasting your time", Mirage informed Cliff with a sigh," The enemy ships are already prepared to attack".

"Seems they know who we've got on board", Naruto spoke up with a frown," Escape's our only hope... and I prefer it anyways".

"It'll be tough without using gravitic warp, but we've got no choice", Cliff followed with, looking to Mirage," Reverse course! Conventional engines, full power!".

"Roger", Mirage simply replied, before typing in Cliff's command, the ship shifting to follow them.

"Full power to rear shields!", Cliff called out, slipping into a more commanding tone," And lemme see a chart for this region!".

Naruto watched the scene ahead with a frown, the ship shaking as the Vendeeni began firing upon the small ship," And it begins", Naruto muttered to himself, his face getting a bit of a green tint to it.

It had been discovered a year after he had joined Quark, during his first time dealing with space combat... that Naruto had a bad case of motion sickness, yet only when it came to being inside a space craft during battle. It had been suggested a big part of this was his want to join the fight... yet while within a ship he had no ways of doing so. So the idea of teaching him how to use a ships weapon systems had been brought up.

Which of course had led to the Vendeeni's increased hunt for anything to do with the organization, having had half of a fleet taking out by the crazed being that was a trigger happy Naruto. After the adrenaline had worn off however, Naruto had vomited and fallen unconscious for a whole day. Since then it had been a rule of Quark's to NEVER allow Naruto to even touch the ships weapons.

"Alright, course 116, mark 267!", Cliff called out as the ship continued to evade the incoming attacks," Activate auto-evasion program! Fasten crew safety harnesses!".

"Release the barf bags!", Naruto groaned out from his seat, trying to hold in his sickness as the ship swerved to avoid incoming fire.

"Roger. …Course entry complete", Mirage called out to Cliff, typing in a few more commands," Speed, maximum... Program activated".

"Eh!", Fayt yelped as his harness took hold, Naruto yelping as his own tightened around him, making it harder to hold himself back.

"Hey, feeling lucky, kid?", Cliff asked back to Fayt with a smirk.

Suddenly, the Eagle tilted left to right.

"Whoa!", Fayt called out in surprise.

"BLEH!", Naruto suddenly heaved into a barf bag, which had been added to every ship of Quark's just for his sake.

"We've evaded round one from the enemy's disruptor cannon", Mirage reported, holding back a grimace from hearing Naruto throw up.

There was a brief pause.

"I'm feeling better", Naruto reported groggily from his seat.

"Just try to keep it all in the bag", Cliff said to Naruto with a light look of worry, hoping this wouldn't be too bad on him.

"Nearing objective point", Mirage reported.

"All right, as soon as we're there, go into gravitic warp", Cliff replied as he looked over to Mirage.

"Cliff, gravitic warp is currently nonfunctional...", Mirage warned him with a frown.

"I got a hunch it'll function the moment we reach the objective point", Cliff noted with a confident air.

"H-hunch?", Naruto stuttered out, frowning as he put his filled barf bag away, quickly getting another," Shit".

"Get us on a straight line between the ships and that planet, then pop us up star-side", Cliff said with a smirk, ignoring Naruto for the moment," we'll open up the distance that way".

"Very well…but we won't be able to designate our warp destination", Mirage warned him with a frown on her face.

"Well, we're toast if we stay here, Mirage!", Cliff replied with a confident smirk on his face," Anyhow, space is big, right? Our odds ain't that bad!"

"Your basing that all on a HUNCH!", Fayt demanded in shock from his seat.

"Welcome to my world", Naruto mused with a frown, before quickly diving his face into his bag as the ship shook.

"Roger", Mirage sighed, before looking on the monitor just as it showed the Vendeeni firing upon them,"The enemy's fired again, Four rounds now approaching!".

"Four, huh?", Cliff mused, still seeming to be quite sure that his hunch would save them," This is gonna be close... Either we enter gravitic warp first or we get pummeled", He mused, before smirking back at Naruto and Fayt," Now's the time to pray, gentlemen!".

"Says the atheist", Naruto muttered with a glare up towards Cliff.

"Unfortunately, it looks like we might lose the race", Mirage reported with a frown," Here comes the first round now, and we're seven seconds from objective point".

"Aaah, who cares if we take a few rounds?", Cliff asked with a shrug, just as the first round hit their ship," Warp our butts outta here!".

"Warp engine damaged", Mirage spoke, before smiling a bit," but…still functioning".

"You bet it is!", Cliff laughed out loudly, before pointing forward towards the large amount of space before the,"Activate gravitic warp!".

"THANK YOU KAMI!", Naruto cried out, right before the ship arched back and shot off into Gravitic warp, heaving into the bag yet again.

* * *

The Eagle exited out of gravitic warp, those on board all safe and sound for the moment. Of course one passenger in particular was QUITE happy to be out of the space battle they had just been in.

"We've thrown off the Vendeeni ships", Mirage reported with a relieved smile.

"Phew… That was close", Cliff sighed in relief, before shooting a smirk to Naruto," HA! Told you my hunch's are always right!".

"Whatever", The still some what green Naruto shot back with a frown," One time thing, that's all it is".

"We'll see", Cliff laughed, before turning to Mirage," So we're all good then?".

"Yes", Mirage informed him, before frowning as she looked over the ships condition and placing," but now we're pretty far from the rendezvous point".

"Well, it can't be helped", Cliff mused, moving into a relaxed slouch in his seat," Besides, it won't hurt to make her wait a little longer, We can take our time".

"Wow, your hunch really paid off", Fayt spoke up, recovering from all that had just happened.

"Finally, some respect!", Cliff said with a wide smirk.

"Yeah, that's JUST what you need", Naruto mused with a mocking tone, finally over his sickness thanks to his tenants work.

"Yeah, a healthy respect for your recklessness", Fayt replied to Cliff's words with an accusing tone.

"What is that supposed to mean?", Cliff said with a frown, spinning his seat towards both Fayt and Naruto," A little more honesty would be nice... like 'Heeey, that Cliff sure is something,' or 'You're a genius, Cliff!'!".

"Was that supposed to mean anything to us?", Naruto asked with mock curiosity.

"Aw, shut it", Cliff said with an annoyed look coming to his face.

The ship suddenly made a strange sound, making all those on board stiffen up.

"... I don't like that", Naruto felt the need to inform everyone.

"Sorry to interrupt while you're having so much fun", Mirage began with a worried tone as she quickly typed in a few keys.

"What is it, Mirage?", Cliff asked with a frown, spinning his seat towards her.

"Please make it good sounding", Naruto said with a sheepish look, wondering if he should get another bag ready.

The gravitic warp core is overheating, We should reduce speed immediately", Mirage began to report with a deeper frown," The engine will scram if we don't.

"Whaaat!", Cliff gasped in surprise, before groaning," Didn't I specifically request that ya tell me these things sooner? Get back to conventional space, pronto!".

"Roger", Mirage replied instantly before doing as ordered, her fingers a blur as she typed in the command.

"I swear if we crash...", Naruto muttered to himself, before looking to Fayt," In case we die, I want you to know... this is all Cliff's fault".

"I figured that one out on my own", Fayt said with a frown of his own.

"Shut it back there!", Cliff shot back instantly.

The ship suddenly began shaking heavily, freaking out those on board... before the ship exited gravitic warp, returning to conventional space.

"Thank you Kami", Naruto sighed in relief, glad they were now safe and sound.

"Bad news", Mirage suddenly said, earning a groan from Naruto.

"Now what?", Cliff asked with a groan of his own.

"Both the conventional and gravitic warp engines have scrammed", Mirage reported with a calm expression," The backup engine isn't functioning, either... I'd say we have a problem".

"Damn it!", Cliff cursed, looking quite unhappy at the moment.

"... So what now?", Naruto asked Cliff curiously from his seat.

"...Where are we now?", Cliff asked Mirage curiously.

"We're currently within Elicoor II's gravitational field", Mirage replied back after looking up their position once more.

"If all our energy sources are shot, then we can't communicate either", Cliff mused, before regaining a smile,"Well, I'm sure she'll figure out something happened to us after we don't show up when we're supposed to".

"Of course", Naruto followed with, smirking lightly," She'll find us no problem".

"Well, Mirage", Cliff said with a serious look to said woman, who looked back curiously... right before he looked away with his eyes shut,"... Try to think of something".

"I'll see what I can do", Mirage replied with a light smile of amusement as she began getting to work for a solution.

"Ladies and Gentlemen", Naruto sighed from his seat, gesturing towards Cliff," Our glorious and intelligent Captain!".

"Aw shut it", Cliff shot back with a frown to Naruto, Arms crossed over his chest," I don't see YOU coming up with anything either".

"... True", Naruto mused with a simple shrug, anything space ship related not being a specialty to him... unless you counted using the weapons.

"What CAN we do?", Fayt suddenly spoke up, looking uneasy and a bit annoyed at how calmly both Naruto and Cliff were being desptie the fact they were in a crashing ship," Aren't all the engines scrammed!".

"For starters, we gotta land before we crash", Cliff informed Fayt, nodding at his own plan," Then, we wait to be rescued".

"Great plan", Fayt said with a deadpan expression.

"I thought so", Naruto agreed with a smirk, sitting up in his seat," Look kid, our mission is to bring you to our leader. Until then, We'll watch out for you".

"Naruto's right", Cliff chimed in with a smile to Fayt,"You're safe as…as a turtle in its shell!

"A turtle dropping out of orbit…", Fayt muttered lightly, once more second guessing his decision to come with these strange people.

"Huh? Did you say something?", Naruto asked with a curious expression on his face, Cliff baring a similar look.

"Nothing", Fayt replied with a sigh.

The ship suddenly began shaking, Naruto gaining an annoyed look as the group looked towards Mirage for some answers.

"We'll be entering into Elicoor II's atmosphere in another 30 seconds", Mirage reported to them all without turning from her work," Get ready for a bumpy ride, you guys... And keep wagging those tongues and you'll bite them off... Wouldn't want you all to die of blood loss".

"Roger", All three chimed in with sheepish looks, each mentally picturing the very act she had mentioned.

The ship suddenly began heavily shaking as Mirage tried to bring it down for a landing, Naruto griping his seat as Fayt did the same, Cliff trying to get back into his seat as it continued to rock.

* * *

In the capital city of Airyglyph, looking like something out of the Medieval Europe, the simple people were going about their every day lives. Their country was at war with it's opposite Aquarius and had been for a good long while. Of course more on that kind of thing later, what with an unknown metal THING falling from the sky down upon the City below.

CRASH!

The people all watched in horror as the metal thing crashed into a thankfully clear part of the city, both people and guards rushing towards it, trying to see just exactly what it was.

"What is that thing?", A currently panicked peasant man asked, looking at the smoking vessel worriedly.

"A star, fallen from the sky?", A young woman offered up, staring in wonder at the ship.

"Nonsense! It looks nothing like a fallen star!", The panicking man shot back with a glare to the girl, more people joining them to gaze upon the sight before the incoming guards would force them away.

"Well, what is it, then?", The girl asked back with a light glare at the man's words and tone.

"How am I supposed to know!", He replied with an annoyed tone just as the city guards showed up, starting to make the civilians back-off the crash site.

* * *

"Just our luck", Fayt cursed as he looked on a computer monitor, seeing all the inhabitants outside of their ship swarming around them,"we landed right in the middle of a city!"

"Juuuust what we needed", Naruto sighed, getting out of his seat before moving to a nearby locker, opening up to reveal the blade that had once belonged to Zabuza Momochi.

"Not to mention we're outta power and the helm is outta whack", Cliff mused, before shooting a smirk to Fayt and Naruto," You two should be happy to be alive".

"I guess this is no time to be worrying about the UP3", Fayt sighed, before looking over to Cliff," What do we do now?"

"I say we go out there and kick some ass", Naruto said with a vicious smirk, Fayt sending him a surprised look before Naruto began laughing," Just kidding... maybe".

"Well, we can't rule it out", Cliff offered with a playful smirk

Nearby Mirage continued to monitor the events outside, a frown coming to her lips as she noted the armored men starting to surround them in place of the civilian like one's," We seem to be surrounded by a group of local soldiers now", She informed Cliff, sending him a curious gaze," What will you do?".

"...Not much we can do with the Eagle scrapped like this", Cliff noted after a moment, a frown coming to his face," Fighting our way out isn't really an option", Here he shot a glance to a frowning Naruto,"... at least we're all in one piece though!".

"For now, maybe", Mirage noted with a sigh.

"I have an idea", Naruto offered up with a smirk, looking proud of whatever he thought up," How about we just walk out and see what happens?".

"... I LOVE that plan!", Cliff agreed with a smirk of his own.

"H-Hold on just a second!", Fayt interrupted with a glare to them both, earning confused looks from both blonde's," Even minimal contact with the inhabitants of an underdeveloped planet will get us in trouble! Besides, we've no idea what they'll do to us once we're out there!".

"You got any better ideas?", Naruto asked Fayt with a frown on his face," I hate to point this out, but I think we've already made contact".

"Rather obviously and forcefully I might add", Cliff followed with, arms crossed over his chest after slipping to his feet.

"Well...", Fayt said, looking unsure still.

"Don't worry", Cliff offered with a smile,"I've gotta hunch they won't kill us right away".

"Another hunch?", Fayt asked skeptically.

"Get used to them", Naruto sighed, eyes once more slipping into a slit like state," He has them ALL the time".

"C'mon! Trust me!", Cliff laughed out, ignoring Naruto's words," Didn't we make it here safely? I tell you, my hunches are always right!"

"How about that time when we almost crashed into that asteroid because of a…hunch?", Mirage offered up with a smirk on her lips, looking over at a now sheepish Cliff.

"Yeah!", Naruto followed with, glaring at Cliff as he recalled the incident," It was on my first mission too!".

"Aw, but that was ONE time!", Cliff offered up, looking away from Naruto's glare.

"If it happened once it could happen again", Fayt noted with a frown.

Cliff sighed, wondering why everyone was making him out to be the bad guy in all this," At any rate, I don't think we have any other choice", He informed the group.

"I know... I just hate your "hunches" is all", Naruto admitted truthfully.

"...What do you think they'll do?", Fayt asked a moment of thinking over Cliff's words.

"Well, we'll probably be taken prisoner", Naruto offered up with a plain expression.

"You say it like you don't even care", Fayt felt the need to note with a sheepish look.

"We've been through worst", Cliff offered up with a light laugh," Though it'll only be us guys heading out there".

"Huh? What about Mirage?", Fayt asked, curious as to why the female Klausian was being left out of the plan... if it could be called that.

"We'll have Mirage wait until later to make an escape", Cliff informed Fayt, before sending a look to Mirage," Mirage, stay until nightfall, then leave under the cover of darkness".

"Right, That shouldn't be a problem", Mirage replied with a nod to him, sending a quick look to Naruto which he nodded to, knowing exactly what he was to do.

"But Mirage... All alone?", Fayt asked with a worried look, not liking the idea of abandoning her on an unknown world.

"You're forgetting she's a Klausian, She'll be fine", Cliff reassured Fayt,"I pity the soldier

that tries to take her in".

"Damn right", Naruto noted, smirking as he recalled the first time he had seen Mirage in action... it had been right after the Asteroid incident that Cliff had caused.

"Want me to come rescue you?", Mirage offered Cliff with a teasing smile.

"Nah, no need", Cliff replied with a smiled at her offer," There'll probably be too many of 'em, anyway, We'll think of something... You scout around and find a way to contact the Diplo", He instructed her, slipping into a serious expression," Don't put yourself in danger trying to hook up with up... They should be able to home in on our position as long as we make contact, They can come get us then"

"Roger", Mirage replied after a moment,

"All right, time to go", Cliff offered up, heading towards the back of the ship as Fayt stood up from his seat.

"Fayt, Be careful", Mirage said with a soft smile to the teen.

"Thanks", Fayt replied, a small blush returning to his cheeks," You too, Mirage".

"Naruto", Mirage offered next, sending a smile towards her fellow blonde," Be safe... and watch Cliff".

"Gladly", Naruto chuckled, sending a smirk to Cliff, who rolled his eyes.

"Cliff", Mirage said next, frowning for a moment as she looked to her fellow Klausian, Naruto watching the scene with a frown, wishing the two would admit their feelings already.

"I said it'll be okay", Cliff offered with a smile to Mirage," As long as I have Naruto with me, you have nothing to worry about, alright?".

"Okay... Be careful", She said to him, before turning in her seat, hitting the button that would open the back of the ship for the three men.

* * *

"Hey, there's something moving", One of the Airyglyph soldiers noticed, the Eagle's back door sliding open before all to see.

"What!", Another soldier asked in surprise, eyes locked onto the opened door, movement being seen.

"A…person?", The first soldier asked as the sight of Naruto, Cliff, and Fayt leaving the Eagle was revealed, Naruto frowning, Cliff looking calm, and Fayt looking nervous... all three holding their hands up.

"Uhh, umm...", Fayt began to stammer out, unsure of what to do,"We-"

"Come to probe you", Naruto finished with a smirk, Cliff biting his bottom lip to hold back a laugh at Naruto's words, Fayt shooting Naruto "Are you crazy?" look.

"Get 'em!", Both soldiers commanded, the two of them moving in along with the rest of the platoon surrounding the Eagle.

"W-wait, please!", Fayt called out, once more baring a worried expression.

"Give it up, kid", Cliff sighed,"Nothing we can do about it".

"Give up!", Fayt asked, turning around to face both Naruto and Cliff

"Look behind you", Naruto offered with a playful smirk, which was mirrored by Cliff.

"Huh?", Fayt asked, turning around to find the whole platoon standing right behind him,"Arrrrggghhh!".

"... Kids fun to mess with", Naruto noted with a sage like expression.

"Indeed", Cliff agreed, baring the same look upon his face.

* * *

Not long after the crew's capture, deep within the Castle of Airyglyph, home to King Airyglyph XIII, we find a special meeting going on within. Sitting at a table in the meeting room we find the King himself, a man in royal clothing with a golden crown on his head atop his brown hair, a full beard on his face, and an expression of seriousness upon his face.

"Well, what was it?", The king asked of a nearby Guard, whose report had called this meeting with himself and the three other men in the room.

"We believe it to be a new Aquarian weapon, Your Majesty", The guard reported," We have the three crew members locked up in the dungeon".

"Very well, Continue with your investigation, and step up to the pace of the invasion of Arias", The King ordered with a some what worried frown at the prospect of his opponent having such an advanced craft," If the enemy has indeed brought a new weapon into active service, then time is of the essence".

"Yes Majesty!", The guard said with a salute to his king, before turning and rushing out of the room to perform his duty.

"What think you, Woltar?", The King asked, turning to one of the men he had called to the meeting.

"If this object that has fallen on our city is truly a new Aquarian weapon", Woltar spoke, the man being the oldest in the room with white hair atop his hair and a full beard of his own, his attire being that of a rich lord, though he had a deep frown on his face," then we are in trouble, Aquaria has shown an admirable ability to wage war of late".

"Lord Woltar appears to lack confidence", Another member of the meeting spoke, sitting across from Woltar," Airyglyph has your Storm Brigade Cavalry, Albel's Black Brigade heavy cavalry, and my winged Dragon Brigade for good measures!", The man stated proudly, the man in question baring heavy armor with a mantle like cape tied around his neck, short dirty blonde hair atop his head, and a short beard and mustache on his face," They stand no chance against our legions, Sire! Their weapons have proven themselves little threat to us and anything they throw at us, we return in spades".

"They say pride comes before the fall, Lord Vox", Woltar said with a glance to the man sitting across from him," Surely a measure of prudence would do us no harm. Right, Albel?", He finished, sending a light smile to the last member of the meeting and the one who most stood out in the room.

The 24 year old man wore a metal collar with the remains of a broken chain around his neck, his eyes a sinister red. His hair was a dark black with blonde tips that faded into the black of the rest of his spiked hair with a pair of long hair ties that reached down to waist, he wore a dark purple sleeveless tank-top that hugged to his muscled chest. He wore a skirt like attachment of a some what oriental design the reached to just under his knee's, a slit on the side of it for freedom of movement. On his legs he had purple thigh high leggings, his feet adorned in steel open toed greaves. On his right arm he wore a fingerless purple glove that went to just under his shoulder, a metal bracelet around the wrist of his right arm. His left arm was another story, encased in a arm length metal cover, his hand encased in a metal like claw, the tips of which seemed razor sharp. Finally around his waist, a Katana was strapped, the sheath of which was a blood like red.

"Heh, If they're the enemy, we kill them", The younger man said in a cold tone, seeming a bit bored with the meeting," If they aren't, we dispose of them. Simple!".

"If only things were as simple as you say", Woltar sighed, sending a quick sad glance to Albel after the young man's words.

"Regardless, we have yet to see any evidence the object is a new Aquarian weapon", Vox spoke up with a frown on his face," My men have already begun to interrogate the crew members, They'll talk before long".

"The Inquisitor? He always seems to enjoy his work a bit too much", Woltar remarked with his frown deepening further.

"He is the best", Vox stated with a dark smirk to Woltar.

"As long as they do not die before they talk", Woltar spoke, sending a light glare back at Vox," We are not barbarians, even prisoners have certain rights, you know".

"You speak absurdities!", Vox spoke loudly, losing his smirk for a frown at the older man across from him," Prisoners have no 'rights.' We'll hurt them until they squeal. If they die as a result, then so be it!", Vox stated, slamming a fist onto the table as he finished, before shaking his head," You've grown much too soft in your old age, Woltar".

"Compared to you, that may be true", The old man said with a sad smile," I'm willing to do what's necessary, but I think your men have a tendency to take things too far".

"What's the big deal? Just find out whether they're enemies or not", Albel sighed in annoyance, lying his chin on his good hand, before gaining a light smirk," If that's too much trouble, I'll be happy to take care of them".

Woltar frowned deeply as he once more looked to Albel, once more wondering how further Albel would allow himself to fall into the thing he had become.

"We know what we have to do, m'Lord", Vox said, this time looking towards the King as he spoke," Don't worry, if we do kill them, we'll make sure they cough before they croak, eh?"

"I certainly hope so", Woltar sighed once more.

"That will be quite enough", The King spoke up for the first time in a while, frowning at the feuding that seemed to be running through his top three men," Now is not the time for us to haggle over such matters".

"Indeed it is not", Vox agreed instantly, nodding his head in agreement with his King's words.

"Vox, continue your interrogation", The King ordered with a glance to the man, before turning his gaze to the other two in the room," Woltar and Albel, return to your posts... We are counting on your knights, you are the pride of our great kingdom after all".

"Yes, Sire", Woltar replied with a bow of his head towards his king.

"Yes, Sire", Vox followed with, doing the same as Woltar.

Albel merely leaned back into his chair, arms folded behind his back as his gaze locked onto the ceiling above, seeming to pay no mind to the King what so ever.

* * *

In the dungeons of Airyglyph, the forms of our heroes were lying within one of it's cells, each having their wrists tied behind their backs and awaiting their turns for interrogation. So far both Naruto and Cliff had been dealt with the obese S&M enthusiast that was the Inquisitor and were currently awaiting the return of Fayt from his own interrogation session.

"Think the kid will be alright?", Naruto asked with a frown, knowing the inquisitor had been quite unhappy after Naruto had messed with him during his session.

"I'm sure he'll be fine... He's tougher then he looks", Cliff replied with a light smile,"... At least I hope so".

"If he's even the slightest bit like Maria he should be", Naruto noted with a sigh, rubbing his wrists in annoyance... having just freed himself," Not a bad knot job".

"Speaking of our leader, I wonder if Mirage got notice to her yet", Cliff mused with a frown, scooting himself a bit to allow Naruto to undo his own bonds," I'd like to get out of here and get the kid to her as soon as possible".

"Well, this world hasn't been that fun so far", Naruto mused as he undid Cliff's bonds, before smirking lightly," Though this place kinda reminds me of my planet... in a good way".

"... The place COVERED in snow and filled with Armor wielding primitives reminds you of home?", Cliff asked with a raised eyebrow, rubbing his own wrists once Naruto freed him.

"Weird right?", Naruto mused with a smirk, pocketing the ropes in case they came in handy at some point,"... Still, It feels homey-" Cue groan from a nearby cell",... well, it did outside anyways".

"Whatever you say", Cliff mused with a shrug," Your way too much like your mother you know".

"Happily noted", Naruto said with a fox like grin, always enjoying the moments Cliff would make such a comment.

Both men suddenly moved their hands behind their backs, as if still bound as moments later two guards arrived with a weakened Fayt, opening the cell doors before tossing him in, quickly locking the cell door once more before heading off, both men pausing their "acting" as they moved over to Fayt, Naruto undoing his own ropes as Cliff lightly shook him.

"Uh... Uhh?", Fayt groaned, looking over to Cliff with a pain filled tone.

"Yo, you all right?", Cliff asked Fayt with a smirk, both himself and Naruto helping Fayt into a sitting position.

"Yeah, I'm fine...", Fayt groaned, wincing once he was set against the cell's walls to lean again,"Ahh... ouch...".

"You don't look fine", Cliff noted with a frown, checking over the wounds Fayt was baring from his session.

"Look who's talking", Fayt shot back with a pained smirk

"Well, yeah", Cliff replied with a light smile, looking at the marks he himself bore from the Inquisitor," but I'm more used to torture than you are"

"And Naruto?", Fayt asked curiously, looking over to Naruto... who lacked a single mark," Where are your wounds?".

"I heal quickly", Naruto replied with a simple shrug," Plus you learn to deal with such things in our line of work".

"Because you're a member of an anti-Federation organization", Fayt noted with a frown.

"Oh, Get OVER it", Naruto groaned, taking a seat against the wall on Fayt's right.

"Hey!", Fayt said with wide eyes, realizing they were all unbound," If we're untied why are we not trying to escape?".

"Due to the simple fact is even if we escaped, the guards took our stuff... meaning we'd be fighting with our bare hands", Naruto noted with a sigh," Which usually wouldn't be a problem... but we also have no idea how many men they have, plus we'd have to protect you... so for now we sit and plan".

"... I see", Fayt said with a frown, realizing both men could have gotten away if they didn't have to worry about him.

"Hey, don't worry about it", Cliff said with a smile to Fayt, sitting on his left," It's not your fault or anything, we'd be having trouble even without you here... besides, it's not like you couldn't fight too... you seem pretty alright even after your torture session, I mean you didn't tell anything".

"What could I do?", Fayt asked with a frown," It's not like they'd believe me if I told them I came from outer space".

"He has a point there", Naruto noted, eyes lightly wandering over the cell.

"...So?", Fayt spoke up after a paused," You two find anything out?"

"As a matter of fact, I did", Cliff said, shutting his eyes as he said so, a serious look on his face.

"I did as well", Naruto followed with, eyes turning into slits.

"What?", Fayt asked, all ears to any information that could help.

"The whips on this planet hurt, too", Cliff offered up with a nod of his head.

"And Fat men in leather holding said whips do not like having their sexuality questioned here either", Naruto followed with, a fox like smile on his face.

"Very funny", Fayt said with a roll of his eyes, mentally wondering if Naruto did in fact say such a thing... it would explain why the inquisitor had been angry when Fayt had been pulled in," Say, do you know what Aquaria is?".

"Aquaria?", Both Naruto and Cliff asked at the same time.

"The interrogator kept mentioning it", Fayt explained to them with a frown, recalling the conversation," He kept referring to the Eagle as a new Aquarian weapon.'".

"Hmph", Cliff mused, frowning lightly," must be the name of their enemy"

"And would be friends", Naruto mused, frowning as his search of the walls revealed no hidden notches they could use.

"So, what?", Fayt asked curiously," they think we're spies?".

"I'm thinking you got that right", Cliff replied with a sigh, getting to his feet as he moved to the bars, lightly gripping one to see if he could bend or break it when the time came to break free.

"Do you think Mirage got away okay?", Fayt asked Cliff, watching the Klausian frown as his attempt at bending a bar failed

"Aww, she'll be fine", Cliff said, shooting a smirk back to Fayt," Like I told you, she's a Klausian, I bet she snuck off into town a long time ago".

"I hope you're right", Fayt mused, getting to his feet with a wince, moving next to Cliff by the bars, gripping them with a frown," Grr… How am I supposed to rescue my dad trapped like this? I don't know why the Vendeeni captured him, but I doubt they're showing him much hospitality"

"Sounds like them alright", Naruto spoke up, moving over to join the two by the bars, looking through them to the lock with a focused look.

"Hey, cheer up", Cliff said to both of his comrades with an at ease tone," Somebody'll show up to spring us outta this place soon enough, Then we'll be on our way, you'll see"

"And who would that 'somebody' be?", Fayt asked with a light glare to Cliff," You told Mirage she shouldn't bother coming in after us and it's not like we know anybody else... = And I doubt your leader's found out about what happened to us yet...".

"It actually had more to do with Naruto over there", Cliff informed Fayt with a serious expression," Kid's got luck like no one I've ever seen".

"... Your basing the idea of us getting out of here on Naruto's LUCK?", Fayt asked with an some what angry look.

"... They're already here", Naruto spoke up, looking out of the bars with narrowed eyes.

"What?", Fayt asked in surprise at the blonde's words," Who?"

A groan suddenly rang out, the three finding a knocked out Airyglyph soldier landing before their cell. Stepping into their view was a young woman with short red hair and green eyes, wearing a leather outfit with thigh high black leather boots and fingerless black gloves that went up to her shoulders, and finally a striped scarf wrapped around her neck. The few spots of her arm and legs revealed showed she bore tattoo's similar to the one's on Naruto's body.

"Huh!", Fayt asked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the woman.

"... I AM lucky", Naruto noted with a surprised look, eyes slowly wandering over the woman's form, as if trying to memorize the sight before him.

"Friend or foe, I dunno", Cliff followed with, smirking lightly at the girl," but there's somebody here".

"You have two options: accept my conditions and live, or refuse, and die here", The woman spoke up, eyes shut as she offered her terms," It's your choice".

"... Um, depends on the offer", Naruto replied, eyes turning to a slit like appearance.

"What kind of options are those!", Cliff asked with a frown, not liking the idea of agreeing to something he knew nothing about.

"The correct choice should be obvious", She shot back with a smirk, eyes half open.

"So, what're your conditions?", Cliff asked curiously.

"I want your help", The girl replied," That's all".

"Our help?", Naruto repeated with a curious look.

"That's right", She replied with a nod of her head," You three were riding that lump of metal that fell on the town, correct? We want your technology".

"Our technology?", Fayt asked, before lightly glaring," We can't let you have that!".

"Why not?", The girl asked with a frown, not liking Fayt's answer.

"Why not! Well-", Fayt began to say, only for Naruto to elbow him in the side," Ow!".

"And what would you do with our technology, if we gave it to you?", Cliff asked as Fayt shot a glare to a smirking Naruto.

"We'd use it to end the war that rages between this country and mine", She offered up," With our side victorious, of course".

"Hold on a minute…'your country'?", Fayt asked, pausing in his glaring of Naruto to look back to her curiously," So you're not one of the people that threw us in here?".

"I figured that out as soon as she showed up", Naruto said with a roll of his eyes, the girl's clothing and appearance unlike the armored men they had ran into so far... her stealth skills alone reminded him of a shinobi.

"No, I'm not from Airyglyph", The girl replied some what proudly," I'm from Aquaria".

"Aquaria", Fayt repeated, recalling the name," The interrogator kept mentioning that name".

"Makes sense, now", Cliff mused with a frown.

"If you've been interrogated, I wouldn't think you'd have any particular loyalty to Airyglyph", The red head noted," Why not help me?"

"The ldy has a point", Naruto mused with a bright smile to the girl," Alright, we'll help ya!".

"What are you saying!", Fayt asked Naruto, surprised at the blonde's words.

"Give us a moment, all right?", Cliff said with an apologetic tone and look to the girl, before pulling Fayt and Naruto into the back of the cell.

The girl frowned but let them do so, looking away as they began to whisper to one another.

"Shut yer trap kid", Cliff whispered to Fayt.

"But she wants our technology!", Fayt said in a loud whisper, before glaring at a calm looking Naruto," What were you planning on teaching them!".

"C'mon, you saw this civilization's level of technology", Naruto shot back with a frown to Fayt," Look, all they need is a little college physics... and luckily I picked up enough of that from hanging around Quark".

"You're right about that", Fayt mused, before frowning once more," but what about the UP3!".

"Man, what a square!", Cliff mused with a light laugh, Naruto slapping his own forehead at Fayt's words," Then again, maybe that's your redeeming feature, huh? Straight as an arrow just like... well...", Cliff paused here, Naruto frowning as he realized whom Cliff meant.

"Just like who?", Fayt asked with narrowed eyes.

"Huh? Did I say something?", Cliff asked innocently, making Fayt groan before Cliff chuckled," Never mind, kid".

"I'm minding", Fayt replied with a light glare.

"Geez, forget about it!", Cliff whispered, still smiling," Listen, based on what she said, we must be in Airyglyph right now, and this place is at war with her country, Aquaria... You with me so far?".

"Yeah", Fayt replied, losing his glare for the moment.

"Good", Cliff said, gaining an explanatory tone," Okay, both sides think we have some kind of unknown technology... Well, that makes sense, a big flying metal thing did land in the middle of a medieval town, what else could they think?".

"Demons", Naruto muttered with a deep frown, Fayt looking to him curiously for a moment.

Cliff frowned at Naruto's words, before looking back to Fayt," Even if we don't cooperate with her, Airyglyph will want our help, too... and I doubt their terms will be any better".

"True", Fayt said with a sigh, though he obviously still had his doubts.

"So what I'm saying is, if we're gonna cooperate with someone, it might

as well be that hot chick over there", Cliff said with a smirk, Naruto nodding quickly in agreement," know what I mean?".

"I can't believe this", Fayt chuckled lightly for once," Your both insane".

"Like a fox", Naruto offered playfully.

"Well, okay, let's say that was a joke", Cliff chuckled," Either way, we can do whatever we want once we're outta this place, We'll just wait for our chance and make a run for it... We're not doing much better here in prison and if we die here, who's gonna rescue your dad, huh? I figured you'd want to meet him in this life, not the next".

"Yeah, besides", Naruto followed with, arms folded behind his head," It wouldn't do good for the boss lady to show up and find us all trapped here... I can just imagine the jokes!".

Fayt frowns at their words, but seems to think it over for a moment, before nodding," All right, you win, for now".

"I always win", Naruto informed Fayt simply, before heading over towards the bars," Alrighty, we discussed your offer and have decided to accept it and allow you to save us from the peril that is this dungeon".

"Then we have a deal", She said with a smirk, obviously glad they accepted," Step back from the bars".

The men did as she asked, all curious to see what she would do, before the girl simply held up a hand, a symbol appearing before it before a ball of fire hit the lock to the door, forcing it open. Fayt stared in shock as Cliff let out a Whistle, Naruto merely smirking as he had figured she'd do such a thing.

"You're free", The red haired girl informed them with a some what playful smirk.

"Thank you very much", Fayt said as he made his way out of the cell, followed by Cliff and Naruto.

"Yeah, thanks", Cliff followed with.

"Owe ya one", Naruto said with a smirk to her.

"No thanks needed, I'm just doing my job", She informed them, arms crossed over her chest," But I'm going to hold you to your part of the bargain".

"Eh?", All three men asked curiously.

"You said you'd cooperate with us, Don't think you can just wait for your chance to run, either, because I won't let you", She informed them, her eyes once more becoming half lidded," If you try… I'll kill you".

"Gah!", Both Cliff and Naruto yelped at the same time, though Naruto had a slight blush on his cheeks.

"I should thank you for calling me 'hot,' though chick' I can

live without", She informed them with a teasing smirk.

"Sca-ree", Cliff said with a light shiver.

"I'm Nel Zelpher, agent for the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria", She informed them with a light nod of her head.

"My name's Fayt Leingod", Fayt introduced himself, before motioning to his companions," And these are...".

"Cliff Fittir", Cliff said simply, pointing at himself with his right thumb.

"Naruto Uzumaki", Naruto said with a nod in return towards her, having long since gotten used to using his first name before his family name.

"Fayt, Cliff, and Naruto", Nel tested out, before smiling," My pleasure, So where are you from, and what is the metal thing you came here in?".

"What do we tell her?", Fayt asked in a low voice to his comrades.

"Just follow my lead", Cliff offered with a relazed smirk," I'll handle this".

"This oughta be good", Naruto said with a roll of his eyes.

"You shut it", Cliff said with an annoyed frown, before looking back to Nel with a smile," We're from a country on a continent far to the east of here. It's a pretty small country, so nobody's really heard of it, but we've got some pretty solid technology".

"From the east? One of the countries in Greeton?", Nel questioned curiously," Not the country that invaded Aquaria...".

?That what you call it here?", Cliff asked in a surprised tone that sounded QUITE real much to Fayt's surprise," Yeah, that's where we're from, We're engineers".

"What are engineers from Greeton doing in Airyglyph?", Nel asked with a hint of suspiciousness in her voice.

Well, the long story'd take all day, so I'll give you then short version", Cliff replied with a sigh," Fayt's dad got, uhh, captured by an enemy country and we were on our way to rescue him in this newly developed, uhh, vehicle, but it broke down on the way and we ended up here".

Naruto frowned at Cliff's stammering, hoping the Klausian didn't mess this up for them with his poor skills in coming up with a story. It had been a well known fact in Quark that Cliff was the worst bull shitter, which was why he usually lost all the card games on board the Diplo.

"I see...", Nel mused with a frown, thinking over Cliff's words which she felt held at least some truth, before speaking up," So you are from Greeton... I thought as much".

"How so?", Fayt asked curiously.

"There is no country on this continent with that level of technology", She replied simply," It was an easy conclusion".

"So are you satisfied then Nel?", Naruto asked, testing the girls name out for the first time.

"More or less", She replied with a shrug, before staring at them with a serious expression." What I am sure of is: there's no way we can let Airyglyph have you... You must cooperate with us".

"What do you mean by cooperate?", Fayt has the need to ask," What technology did you want, exactly?".

"Yes, well-", She began to say, only to be interupted by sounds further down the hall.

"What's going on down here?", A voice asked," Hey, you-Whaa!".

"hey're changing the guard already!", Nel asked in surprise, before looking to the three men with a frown," Do you three have any fighting experience?".

"Does it take too long to cook good Ramen?", Naruto asked with a smirk, looking forward to busting a few heads.

"Huh? Why?", Fayt asked curiously.

"Because you're about to get some", Nel informed him.

"Don't you worry about us", Cliff said with a smirk," You could say we're above average".

"Maybe YOU", Naruto said with a teasing smirk to Cliff.

"You two might be able to fight with your bare hands, but I need some kinda

weapon", Fayt informed them, having seen Naruto use the large sword before, yet Fayt had a feeling Naruto could fight without it.

"I thought this might happen", Nel mused, before motioning to a large chest nearby," In there".

"What's this?", Fayt asked as he moved over to the chest, opening it up to see what it held within.

"Your stuff", Nel replied, Naruto instantly rushing over to it to retrieve his sword," I got it back for you".

"Great", Cliff said with a smirk to Nel, Naruto having just tossed the Klausian his Gauntlents," Thanks".

"Now I owe you two", Naruto said with a smirk, looking over his large sword with loving eyes, having grown quite used to having the sword around... not having it on his person always made him feel off.

"Your welcome", Nel said to them both with a nod of her head, before looking over to Fayt," One more thing, Fayt right?", Nel asked, the blue haired teen nodding to her as she motioned to a set of clothes inside the chest," You can't go around dressed like that, I don't know if the size will match or not... anyway, put those on".

"Th-thank you", Fayt replied in surprise, grabbing the items inside before slipping back into the cell to change into them.

Outside Cliff slipped his weapons onto his hand, flexing his fingers a bit before smirking. Nearby Naruto gave his blade a few practice swings, before noticing Nel looking at him curiously.

"Something wrong?", He asked curiously, the girl snapping out of her staring at his words.

"Nothing...", She said with a frown, before speaking once more," Where exactly did you ge-".

"How's it look?", Fayt asked as he stepped out of the cell, wearing a shirt similar to his last one, this time having armor like covering over his legs, a pair of boots, a sword sheath strapped to his waist, small shoulder pads on his shoulders, elbow pads, and fingerless blue gloves.

"Not bad kid", Cliff said with a smirk," Looks good on you".

"Let's get moving then", Nel said, not finishing what she was starting to ask Naruto as she began heading down the hall towards the enemy.

"Wait for me!", Naruto called after her as he gave chase, both Fayt and Cliff soon doing the same.

As the four reached the end, they found three Airyglyph guards wielding swords... along with a quite pissed off looking inquisitor," YOU!", The Inquisiotor growled in anger at Naruto, gripping his whip tightly," I'm going to enjoy this!".

"What exactly did you do?", Cliff asked Naruto with a curious look.

"Quite a bit", Naruto replied with a shrug, before smiling," Fatty is mine".

"Try not to get hurt", Nel said with a smirk to him, before rushing towards the nearest guard.

"You know, she might not be too bad", Naruto noted with a laugh before launching himself at the overweight Inquisitor.

"Time to bust some heads!", Cliff called out as he moved into one of the remaining two guards, looking as eager as Naruto.

"Alright... it's just like before with Norton", Fayt muttered to himself, calming himself of his nervousness as the remaning solider charged him, Fayt gaining a determined look as he moved in to attack.

Nel leapt at her target, who quickly took a swing at her with his blade, the red haired woman easily dodging to the side of his swing before sending a hard kick to his side, sending the heavily armored man crashing to the ground. Nel quickly began charging energy for the attack she had done to the cell's lock not long before, the guard doing his best to get back on his feet, his armor causing a bit of trouble in doing so.

"Fire Bolt!", Nel called out as she finished, sending a large Fireball towards the guard just as he returned to his feet, turning around just in time for it to crash into him and sending him flying into the wall behind him.

"G-glory to... Airyglyph...", The man managed to groan before slumping against the wall.

"And that's how you do it", Nel said with a satisfied smirk, turning to watch her new comrade's work.

Nearby Cliff was easily dodging the swings of his opponent, laughing mockingly with each miss sent his way," Hold still damn you!", The guard cursed, taking a sidewats swing at Cliff. Cliff merely leapt over it before landing on his feet, sending a quick series of punches into the guards gut, the guard groaning in pain from the mighty strength that each hit had behind it.

"Geese, not much of a fighter are you?", Cliff asked with a frown, taking a step back as he pulled his right arm back quite a bit, before sending a full powered punch into the man's helmet covered face. His fist ripped through the metal and plowed into the guard's face, sending him soaring down the hall before landing with a crash on his back, groaning loudly in pain," Hmph!", Cliff huffed with a glare towards the guard," I'd prefer a more worthy opponent".

Fayt side stepped his opponent, gritting his teeth as he took another swing of his sword, the guard he was facing parrying the hit before moving to slash downwards at Fayt, the blue haired teen quickly leaping back out of the way.

"Hold still you punk!", The guard growled angirly at Fayt.

"Alright... lets try something new", Fayt muttered to himself, shutting his eyes as he recalled the attack he had been able to pull off against Norton's guards. It had been a surprise to him, the guards words having struck a feeling of anger in Fayt... allowing him to do something he had never done before.

"For Airyglyph!", The guard yelled out as he charged at Fayt, Sword held above his head to swing upon the blue haired teen.

"Alright!", Fayt called out, a determined gleam in his now opened eyes, His blade suddenly glowing with a blue light as Fayt charged at his opponent. Once he was close enough Fayt yelled out, swinging his sword downward," Blade... OF FURY!", The teen called out as he swung, the first hit ripping through the man's armor, before Fayt followed it with an upward swing, cutting through the man's chest, before Fayt pierced his blade forward, sending it right into the man's chest and out the back through his armor.

Fayt breathed heavily after her finished, before staring wide eyed at just what he had done, frowning for a moment before taking a calming sigh as he pulled out his blade from the corpse, his hand shaking only a bit. It was something he had been having to deal with since his time in Whipple, having ran into quite a few bandits of Norton. The first time he had killed had been quite hard on him... but back then his had more important things to worry about, like finding Niklas.

Fayt looked over towards Cliff and Nel, Cliff walking over to his side with a worried look," You alright kid?", Cliff asked with a frown to Fayt.

"Y-yeah... Still not used to it is all", Fayt replied with a fake smile.

"... It'll get easier kid", Cliff said after a moment, putting his hand on the boys shoulder.

"I'd rather not have to do such a thing in the first place", Fayt said with a glare to his sword, it still covered in the blood of his kill,"... Where's Naruto?".

"Playing", Cliff said with a light smile to Fayt, pointing a bit aways. Fayt followed Cliff's directions... before frowning at the sight.

"I see", Fayt sighed, it seeming only Naruto could snap him out of his own depressing thoughts.

With said Blonde, he was all smiles as the Inquisitor tried to whip him, the ninja merely leaping out of the way with the agility only a ninja could have, landing behind the large man before using the flat of his blade to whack the man's ass as hard as he could.

"YEOW!", The Inqusitor yelped, looking back in anger at the smirking Naruto," N-NO ONE HAS EVER ANGERED ME LIKE YOU HAVE!".

"Glad to know I'm special", Naruto laughed, lying his blade against his shoulder with a mocking smirk," Tell you what, if you be me for forgiveness and swear on your life to both never torture another person again... and start jogging every morning, I'll just knock you out".

"Like I'd agree to that!", The Fat man growled, striking out with his whip suddenly, it wrapping around Naruto's right wrist tightly," Ha! Got you now!".

"... The sad thing is I could have beaten someone like you before I met Kakashi-sensei", Naruto sighed loudly, shaking his head.

"W-what the hell are you blabbering about!", The Inquisitor demanded, pulling with his whip... only to find he couldn't move Naruto from his stance," W-what!".

"I left my home in search of adventure... using the skill and knowledge I gained to the fullest", Naruto continued, as if not feeling the Inquisitor's pulling," Yet but for a few rare moments have I ran into something TRULY challenging... To be frank I'm starting to get bored".

"W-will you shut-up!", The fat man growled, right before landing on his ass with a crash, his whip having snapped from his pulling," W-what kind of freak are you!".

"... A bored one", Naruto said with a frown to the Inquisitor, lifting his sword up high before sending in crashing down onto the fat mans head... blood shooting out from the man's head onto the walls around them, a bit even hitting Naruto's right cheek,"... Another one bites the dust".

"Was that neccesary?", Cliff asked with a frown as he, Nel, and Fayt walked over to Naruto.

"He would have just continued torturing more people... not that he can't just be replaced", Naruto mused with a sigh, sliding his blade onto his back before pulling a tissue from his pants pocket, wiping the blood from his cheek.

"Hurry", Nel spoke up, seeming a bit unnerved by how calm Naruto had reacted to killing the man," They'll be here any minute".

"W-wait a sec...", Fayt spoke up nervously, those around him unsure if it was from his own kill or Naruto's.

"Yes?", Nel asked curiously.

"How are we gonna get out?", Fayt asked with a frown," There are lots of soldiers outside".

"Kid has a point there", Naruto mused with a frown, looking to Nel for her answer as he tossed his tissue to the ground.

"We'll go out through there", Nel informed them, pointing towards a nearby Ventilation shaft against the wall.

"The ventilation shaft?", Naruto asked in surprise, before frowning," Wasn't expecting one of those in a place like this".

"Looks like kind of a tight fit", Cliff mused after giving the shaft a look over.

"Don't complain", Nel said to him with a frown on her face," If we can get through there, it widens out a bit, We'll just have to squeeze through that first part".

"Yeah, yeah", Cliff sighed, hands moving onto the sides of the grate covering the shaft, pulling it off with a light grunt.

"Fayt, you go first", Nel instructed as she looked to the teen," I'll bring up the rear".

"Got it", The teen replied, moving over to the open shaft, sending one last look towards Naruto before sliding in, crawling his way into it.

"Well... lets see if I can fit these guns inside", Cliff joked as he crouched down after Fayt before crawling in.

"Riiiight", Naruto laughed lightly at Cliff's words, moving to enter the shaft next, only to find Nel blocking his way,"... You gonna give me shit for killing the fat man?".

"Of course not... I would have done the same thing to that slime", Nel informed him with a frown, Naruto lightly raising an eyebrow at her words,"... Those marks on your arms... where did you get them?".

"Greeton", Naruto replied with curious look, wondering why she was asking," Why do you ask?".

"...No reason", She said with a frown, seeming to be ready to ask something else before sighing," You better get moving then".

"Yes Ma'am", He said with a light smirk, slipping into the shaft next, following after Fayt and Cliff.

"Hmm... He couldn't be", Nel mused to herself with a light frown, seeming to be in deep thought over Naruto before she too slipped into the shaft, following after Naruto.

* * *

A pretty good update if I do say so myself... I hope I'm doing the Star Ocean characters justice. In case your all wondering, I've been replaying the game in order to do alot of this fic... which is actually quite fun and nostalgic, the game is still enjoyable!

For Pairings I am currently leaning to just having Nel paired with Naruto, though it might be because in game I am not yet to the point where Maria joins the group. I have to say... I friggen love Nel, more so because her Voice actress is one of my fav dub actresses! She did Yoruichi in Bleach!

Anyways, if any out there are curious as to what Naruto did to piss the Inquisitor off, ask and I shall add the scene as an Omake for the end of the next chapter. Till then, Peace!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or SO3, both which are awesome as hell in their own ways.

Takeshi Yamato: Thanks for the offer, but due to bad memories with taking in OC's I try not to use others. I'll more then likely use one of my own if it comes up, sorry.

Reishin Amara: True, lol, but I wanted to go with a more serious moment with Naruto compared to all the humor moments I'd done during the rest.

The Lonely Fox: No worries, Naruto still use's his Chakra and Ninja moves, he just doesn't feel the need to use them on those he deems weak enough for him to defeat with his sword and physical abilities alone.

Vandenbz: Thanks for the comments, I'll look the chapter over for the mistakes and see if I can fix them all, My Spell check isn't always the best you see.

ChaosRune: I see your point, I'll do my best to step it up so it isn't just the game with Naruto added to the mix. I'm still some what new to fic writing so please bare with me.

5-digit:... Darn, that's a good scene, lol. Anyways, I'm sorry this took so long to come out and hope your still willing to keep up with it :)

Drake the Gunner: I'm glad your enjoying this story so far, I hope your still willing to follow along seeing as I've yet to update this in HOW long.

cool: Yeah, I'll try to make the fights stretch out a bit more, though with some I don't see the point if in the game I myself had no problem beating them... but I'll attempt my best.

RyugaOmega: Thanks for the review, though when it comes to the pairing I at least want it to be Nel and MAYBE one other girl at this point, not sure if that would be Maria of Claire however.

Blackholelord: I suppose you have a point, though I have a few ideas involving the Akatsuki, though I'm unsure if I'll actually go through with them.

spiritwolf35: Ah, alas I am sad to not be wanted on your oh so important favorite's list, surely someone who has SO many works of fiction would honor me by having me on your favorite's after all... oh well, I suppose I must find SOME way to live with such a fate...

Now then, Sorry this took so long to get out but since my father is still having health problems, along with looking for a job in the crappy economy of California, I haven't had much free time. Also I've been working on my Grammar and such, let me know if I'm getting any better.

000

The Airyglyph Aqueducts, A place once frequently that long ago had been used for both sewage reasons and a secret escape route one could take should the Castle be taken by enemy forces. In recent years however many type's of monsters had taken refuge within the Aqueducts, making it impossible to set up any Airyglyph guards within it... though with monsters filling the area it actually saved the King some man power, so he had decided to allow the monsters to stay... so long as none of them left and entered the city limits.

"Hm" Naruto mused with a frown, his eyes running over the area they had been directed to by their new found companion, one Nel Zelpher, "I've been to worst places."

"Where are we?" A curious Fayt asked Nel as she dusted herself off, having just finished coming out of the shaft they had traveled through.

"We're in the aqueducts that wind their way under the city." Nel replied simply, glancing at the blue haired teen for a quick second.

"Aqueducts, huh?" Cliff followed with, scanning the area just as Naruto had been," Hey, it's all frozen over."

"This comes as a surprise to you? It IS winter in Airyglyph" Nel said with a raised eyebrow to the blonde Klausian arms crossing over her chest," Didn't you see the snow falling outside?"

"Cliff can be a bit slow sometimes." Naruto offered with a fox like smirk.

.".. Shut up" Cliff said with a light frown to Naruto, before taking a step forward, suddenly starting to slip on some of the ice on the ground, only to catch his balance before he would fall at the last second,.".. You say ONE word!", Cliff said lowly as he turned to send an accusing glare to a smirking Naruto.

"Careful" Nel said as she began walking past Cliff, a hidden smile hidden by her scarf," You're no good to us if you fall in the water and freeze to death."

"Sca-ree..." Cliff said with a grimace at the thought of dying in such a way... plus the way Nel said it made it even more so.

"Let's get moving" Nel called back to the three men, motioning towards the nearby underground structural area," This way leads to the city... if we can make it through", She said before continuing on, leaving the three men to rush after her.

"You know, I'm not sure if she's joking or not." Naruto said lowly to Cliff as they began moving down the path to their right, a somewhat somber Fayt taking the back.

000

Naruto frowned as he looked at his blade, wiping the gooey remains of the Slime like monster he had just slain along with the rest of his group. Nel had went on ahead to make sure there weren't any other monsters in their path, leaving Naruto, Cliff, and Fayt to themselves for the moment. Cliff was sitting nearby, resting comfortably on a broken stone block that may have been a part of a pillar at one point. Fayt was sitting not far from Naruto, the blue haired teen having barely spoke since they had began traveling through the underground Aqueducts, yet he kept sending Naruto glance's every once and a while.

"Look kid" Naruto sighed, finally having enough as he sent a narrowed glance towards Fayt, who looked a bit surprised Naruto had noticed his glance's," I know I look good and all, but I don't sway that way."

"W-what!" Fayt stuttered out, a hint of a blush coming to his cheeks before glaring at Naruto while Cliff snorted at Naruto's teasing," Yeah right, I'll have you know I'm quite happily straight!."

"No shit" Naruto said with a hint of a smirk coming to his lips, slipping Kubikiri onto his back," Really, what's eating you? Your being WAY to quiet."

"I just..." Fayt began, regaining his somber look for a moment, before looking at Naruto with a serious look," I just wanted to know how you deal with it... How is it you can kill someone and be fine with it!."

Silence followed, Cliff looking on from his seat with a surprised look, before his eyes locked onto a frowning Naruto's, wondering what his fellow blonde would respond with.

"I see" Naruto mused with a nod of his head, understanding Fayt's problem now," This is about that Knight you killed back in the dungeons right?", Naruto asked with a frown, his answer in the frown Fayt sent back his way," I figured as much", Naruto sighed, leaning back against the wall he had been sitting against," To tell you the truth, killing was a concept that took me a long time to actually get used to... though it got easier as I realized the reasons I kill for."

"Reasons to kill for?" Fayt repeated with a frown, unsure what Naruto meant but a bit eager to find out.

"Let me start by saying if it comes down to it, those I see as precious to me come first before anyone else" Naruto began with a frown," If it were to save those I cared about I would do anything... no matter how horrible," Naruto explained, before gaining a sheepish look," Well, as long as I couldn't find another way out of it of course, I'm just saying when push comes to shove."

"I still don't understand what you mean." Fayt noted with a frown, mentally thinking over His father, his mother, and Sophia... HIS precious people.

"It's pretty simple" Naruto sighed, regaining a frown on his face," I kill for my precious people, I kill to protect them, I kill so that I may live and return to them... I kill for them... you understand?", Naruto asked, sitting back up straight," That guard you killed, you killed him to save yourself, so that you may return safely to those who are precious to you... I killed that sicko to save those he would eventually torture, people like THAT... I could care less for."

Fayt stared at Naruto for a moment, thinking over the blonde's words,"... I still don't like it", Fayt muttered out moments later.

"Never said I liked it" Naruto said with a light smile as he jumped onto his feet, stretching his arms out a bit," But I will do what is necessary for my survival."

.".. Right" Fayt said, gaining a light smile of his own, seeming to have at least gotten over it a bit.

"Well, that wasn't bad", Cliff spoke up with a smirk, both younger men looking to him as they had forgotten he had even been in the room," Still, your moment of bonding won't matter if we get lost and freeze to death in this place."

"True" Naruto noted with a sheepish frown, looking towards the path Nel had taken," Where the hell is Nelly anyway?."

"Nelly?" Fayt repeated with a confused look, Cliff laughing lightly at the nickname.

"What?" Naruto asked innocently, looking to Fayt with an innocent expression," Too obvious? I kinda like it though... Nelly Zelly."

_Shick!_

"But her Majesty, Queen Nel the Lovely and Merciful sounds just as good." Naruto spoke up instantly, the woman in question behind him with a blade to his neck, eyes narrowed and a some what creepy smirk on her face.

"I used to be called Nelly when I was little actually... by a neighborhood boy who thought it was funny" Nel informed Naruto, before leaning more against him, her lips inches from his right ear," The last time he called me that... was that last time anyone ever heard him speak again... understood?."

"Sca-ree." Cliff said with a wide eyed look, watching the scene while being thankful he wasn't the one with a blade to his throat.

"Perfectly" Naruto said with a sheepish grin, shivering as he felt her body press into his back, mentally trying not to think of the naughty image's flooding into his mind... mentally cursing the short time he had spent with a certain Perverted Sage," I promise not to do it again."

"Good boy" Nel said in a mocking tone, lightly pulling back as she patted his head like he was a dog, removing her blade from his neck and sheathing it, before looking towards Cliff and Fayt with a serious expression," I found the path out of here... though there is one last obstacle it would seem."

"What is it?" Cliff asked her curiously, eyes locked on Naruto, who was pouting at Nel who was acting like she was ignoring him.

"The path out is covered in ice... meaning we'll have to be careful while crossing over it." Nel said with a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest as she slipped into a relaxed stance.

"That sounds fun" Fayt noted with a frown,.".. though if you only got to the Ice path, how do you know that's the last obstacle?."

"From the map I memorized, there's only a small room and a large room after that left" Nel explained to the teen," There can't be much left to deal with if anything."

"In my experience, the worst stuff is always at the last part" Naruto said in a sage like tone, before smirking," At least that's how it always is in Video Games."

"Huh?" Nel asked in confusion, not recognizing the strange term he had used.

"Mini-boss here we come" Cliff chuckled, before looking to Nel," Lead the way then... Your Majesty", He said, smirking towards Naruto as he referred to Nel by the title, Naruto flipping him off with a frown.

"Of course... this way." Nel said with a light smile as she moved past Naruto down the pathway, the three men following after her.

.".. So, what did we learn?" Cliff asked Naruto with a smirk.

"That your an ass." Naruto said with a glare to the Klausian.

"And that Naruto isn't as tough as he'd like us to think." Fayt spoke up with a smirk of his own, earning a laugh from Cliff and a glare from Naruto.

"Nice one kid!" Cliff laughed, lightly slapping Fayt on the back," You CAN joke!."

"I liked it better when he was being Emo." Naruto muttered, unhappy at how he was becoming the butt of the jokes... before smirking as he recalled the feel of Nel against his back, feeling much better from the memory.

It wasn't long later before they arrived on the steep path that Nel had mentioned, the ground fully encased in sleet over coating. Cliff lightly put his left foot against it, frowning as he already could feel how easy they could slip.

"I'd say our best bet is to go one at a time" Cliff informed the group, before looking to Naruto," We'll see you on the other side."

"Huh?" Fayt questioned, sending Cliff a curious look as Naruto began stepping to the ice," I thought you just said we'd better take it slow."

"Unless Naruto has some kind of special skill", Nel mused, glancing over to Naruto as she noticed the Rune's visible to the naked eye glow for a moment," A Runology ability?."

"Is that what they call it here?" Naruto asked curiously as he began walking on the ice, seeming to have no problem trekking across," We call it Symbology in Greeton", He explained, keeping the lie Cliff had told going," This specific skill just sends my... Magic to my feet in order to latch onto the ground beneath me... no matter what kind of surface."

"Really?" Nel asked, obvious interest in her tone,.".. Perhaps you'd be willing to share such abilities with me later on."

"That depends on what your willing to give in return!" Naruto called back to her with a some what perverse tone as he continued down the path, soon getting out of earshot,.".. I have a feeling she's going to pay me back for that remark at some point."

Naruto chuckled lightly to himself, deciding to past the time recalling just how he had learn the Snow Striding skill... it having been in the scroll Kakashi had given him before leaving his home world. It hadn't been easy continuing his Shinobi Training alone... luckily or unluckily however he had Cliff and Mirage to help him out.

/Flashback/

_"You sir, are absolutely crazy!" A Younger Naruto said with a deadpan look towards a grinning Cliff. _

_"Oh come on!" Cliff tried to push, looking over to the frozen lake he had taken Naruto to in order to master the next Chakra Control exercise," Look, didn't that one guy you told me about use this method? Then that old pervert made you do the same!."_

_"Yeah, but those were both Hot Springs... this is a frozen death trap!" Naruto explained with a glare, wondering to himself if Cliff wasn't as cool as he had been first led to believe," It's like the total opposite!."_

_"Now now, you don't wanna look like a wimp in front of Maria right?" Cliff asked with a teasing smirk, Naruto lightly blushing at the mention of the blue haired girl who was currently off with Mirage investigating another part of the planet they were on, Naruto having gained a small crush on the lovely young leader of Quark during the last few months he had been a part of the organization._

_"W-well... no."Naruto admitted with a frown, inwardly thinking of how bad his last crush had gone._

_"Good, then get to it!" Cliff said quickly, suddenly whacking Naruto's back hard, sending the young blond toppling forward onto the ice... which cracked instantly from his weight._

_"W-what!" Naruto managed to gasp out before dropping into the water, making a light splash._

_.".. This might take a while." Cliff noted with a frown, shaking his head as he moved over to fish Naruto out._

/End Flashback/

"What's with that look?", Cliff asked Naruto curiously, The Klausian, Fayt, and Nel having just finished trekking over to Naruto, who was lightly glaring at Cliff.

"Just remembering how stupid you can be." Naruto explained with a dramatically loud sigh, jumping off the rock he had been sitting on.

Cliff merely gave Naruto a confused look, before shrugging it off and casting Nel a curious look," So, just a bit further right?", He asked her.

"Just past there" Nel informed him, pointing to the entryway of the next room," Once we're past there we're out."

"Right" Naruto mused with a frown, reaching for his blade... only to pause as he let his arm hang by his side," Naw, No need to let my other skills get rusty."

"What do you mean?", Nel asked him in confusion, before frowning as she recalled his earlier words," You still suspect some big monster is going to be in there?."

"There usually is" Naruto informed her with teasing smirk," Tell ya what, how about a little wager on whether or not I'm right?."

"Oh?" Nel asked, not reacting much to his offer but for a raising of her right eyebrow, before slipping into a more relaxed stance, arms over her chest while leaning onto her right leg," And what exactly be the stakes?."

"If there's nothing in the room seeking to either kill or eat us... then I will do any one thing you ask of me" Naruto informed her with a confident look on his face," And should I be right you must do the same."

.".. As long as it doesn't involve betraying my country and people" Nel informed him with a some what wary look, before a barely noticeable blush came to her cheeks," And nothing lecherous!."

"Deal!" Naruto replied instantly, before motioning towards the room to her," After you... your highness", he said with a teasing smirk, bringing up the title he had given her but a while back.

Nel rolled her eyes before moving into the next room, Cliff shaking his head at the two of them before moving after her. Fayt moved to follow as well, only to look to Naruto with a frown," You realize she could ask you to help them make whatever weapon they want right?", Fayt asked, finding Naruto's wager a foolish idea.

"You act like I'm gonna lose" Naruto said with a fox like smirk, moving past Fayt and moving on to catch up with the rest of the party," I never lose a wager, my luck is too amazing to allow such a thing."

"Are you sure?" Fayt asked as he followed Naruto, standing besides the blonde with a frown as they entered the next room, Fayt not noticing Nel and Cliff a bit always standing, unmoving," I mean, what are the chance-", He began to ask, only to see Naruto smirking at something ahead of them, causing Fayt to look as well,.".. That's a Giant Crab."

"Mhmm!" Naruto replied, his smirk growing larger as he and the rest of his party stared at the large Crab that was standing just in front of the Ice before them, snapping it's claws as it readied to attack,."...", Naruto turned his gaze to the quite shocked Nel, lightly poking her shoulder, making her snap out of it and look to him with a glare,.".. I win!", He declared loudly.

At Naruto's yell the Crab charged, making the party quickly dodge to the side's of it to avoid it's attack, Naruto and Nel on it's left with Fayt and Cliff on it's right, The Crab itself shaking off the pain of crashing into the wall.

"Not too bright, is it?" Cliff asked in an amused tone, clenching his right fist before slipping into a fighting stance.

"Well... it IS a crab" Fayt noted with a frown, drawing his sword while wondering to himself how a Crab had survived in such a cold climate.

Meanwhile both Nel and Naruto had their eyes locked on their enemy, whom had turned to them while exposing it's back to both Cliff and Fayt. Nel had her daggers ready, while Naruto merely took a ready stance, leaving his sword on his back unlike his previous fights.

"Why aren't you drawing your sword!" Nel demanded of him, leaping into the air just as the Crab swung at them, The attack hitting Naruto and sending him sailing into the air," Naruto!."

**POOF!**

To Nel's surprise, Naruto had suddenly exploded in a puff of smoke... being replaced by a piece of now broken ice of all things. Before Nel could contemplate what had just happened, She heard Naruto cry out, Nel landing back on her feet just as she found Naruto ON TOP of the crab... which was trying to hit him with it's claws, only for him to duck and side step the attacks while sticking to his spot on top of it.

"Ride'm Crawdad!" Naruto called out with a laugh, ducking another snap from the crab he was riding, before looking over the side towards Cliff and Fayt," Oi! Attack while it's focused on me!."

"That moron" Cliff chuckled lowly in amusement, charging forward towards the crab's legs," Sphere of Might!", He called out, unleashing his orb like attack that dug into the Crab's side and some of it's legs, within moments breaking off two of the legs that it had harmed, the crab letting out a squeal of pain as it tried to catch it's balance with what legs remained," Your up Fayt!."

Fayt nodded, his left hand touching the blade of his sword, using one of the few moves he had in his arsenal," Blazing... SWORD!", He called out, the blade of his sword suddenly becoming encased in fire. Once that was done he had both hands take hold of the hilt of his large blade, rushing forward, reaching Cliff before dropping into a slide, the sleet under him letting him slide under the crab before he slammed his blade upwards into the underside of the crabs' shell, the flames giving him the extra bonus he needed to rip through the shell and reach it's stomach within it. Fayt continued to slide, cutting all the while through the crab's gullet as it's guts and intestines fell behind him onto the frozen ground behind. Fayt finally pulled his blade out before coming out the other side, finally skidding to a stop besides Nel before he stood up, eyes narrowed as the Crab seemed to be stumbling back and forth, the pain of what he had done being too much for it to mentally deal with.

"Nel! Fire attack!" Naruto called out to her, leaping into the air above the crab, moving his hand cupped before his lips as the symbols on his body lit up," Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!", Naruto called out, before a large ball of flames burst forth onto the Crab below, the Jutsu another that Kakashi had added to the scroll... it had been the first Katon jutsu Naruto had learned, since he had seen Sasuke do it enough.

At the same time below, Nel herself had unleashed her own Fire attack upon the Crab," Fire Bolt!", She called out, before throwing the smaller bolt of flames upon the creature, it and Naruto's attacks forming together before enveloping the screaming monster with it's flames.

The crab began to flail around, the flames torturing it with every second they covered it, before it's flailing made it slip over to the less thick Ice covered ground, the ice cracking under the giant crab's weight before it began to plummet into the depth's below, it's screaming echoed all the way down.

Silence followed as the group looked down, no longer being able to see the monster they had been able to deal with simply enough,.".. I was gonna eat that", Naruto sighed, earning a Disgusted look from Fayt, a frown from Nel, and a shake of his head from Cliff," What!."

000

Albel Nox was not a happy person... at least off the battlefield and rarely so these days as very few people could offer the man a challenge. The only man who could in his opinion was a fellow brigade captain, which left the young warrior unable to properly challenge him without a good reason that would keep him from being thrown into a cell after he won. At the moment however he was thinking of what he had just learned, overhearing some of Duke Vox's knights speaking of the escaped prisoners, the worthless maggots having failed to stop their escape and the Inquisitor had been killed by the younger blonde one. Albel had demanded of one of the guards a description of the blonde and how he fought... the answers only making the Black Brigade captain feel excited. Perhaps this fool could provide him a worthy challenge, at the very least he might get a much needed work-out from it.

Albel sheathed his weapon, a smirk on his lips as he turned and his made his way to gather what brigade members he had with him before the trail got too cold. By now the escaped prisoners were most likely out of the city and he had quite a lot of catching up to do...

000

"I'm just saying" Naruto continued to explain, walking besides Cliff and Fayt, the three of them once more following after Nel as she led them down the hill where the Aqueduct had exited from," If we had taken the time to cook that sucker up, it could have fed us for at least a few days... less if we could get some Ramen noodles."

"We get it!" Cliff groaned with a shake of his head, wishing Naruto would just drop the whole Crab thing", What is it with you and making everything into a Ramen?."

"Not EVERYTHING" Naruto said with a frown, recalling only ten times in the last few years he had mentioned putting something into a Ramen",... How much longer till we're there?."

"Just a bit further and we'll be in the city" Nel informed him as she stopped suddenly, turning to face them with a serious expression," I suggest we do our best to get to the city gates without being seen, I'm sure the city guards will be looking for us by now."

"Before we go any further, I'd like for you to elaborate on exactly what you wish us to do for you." Fayt suddenly spoke up, earning a curious look from Nel.

.".. I suppose I could give you a quick explanation" Nel mused with a nod of her head after thinking Fayt's question over," But remember, refusal is not an option."

"I don't know about that" Fayt replied, eyes narrowing lightly," I won't do anything that I don't want to do... plus there's the chance we won't be able to help you with what you need us to do."

"I told you in the dungeons that I required your technology, did I not?" Nel asked the bluenette, her right eyebrow rising slightly as a frown came to her lips.

"Right, but I'd like to know exactly what that would entail." Fayt spoke, frowning in return to her own.

"Look, if this was going to be a problem you should have asked me before agreeing to my terms" Nel said with a sigh, shaking her head," You three agreed to my offer knowing full well I wanted your technology... Did you not understand this? Or is it merely your not the kind of man who keeps his word?."

"I-I" Fayt stuttered, unsure of how exactly he should respond to her accusations.

"Look, what the kid here is saying is you didn't leave us much of a choice" Cliff spoke up on Fayt's behalf, stepping into the conversation," It was basically come with me or die."

"Well, I wouldn't say die" Naruto said with a light smirk, watching the discussion from the side lines", I'm sure we could have fought our way out... though Fayt might have died", He added, ignoring the worried look the blue haired boy now had.

"So... you won't cooperate?" Nel asked, her eyes narrowing into a glare towards three men before her, ignoring Naruto's attempt at messing with Fayt

"When did I say that?" Cliff asked with a wide smirk, earning a some what surprised look from Nel, Cliff pointing towards Naruto," Besides, even if me and the kid here said no, this dumb ass would help you."

"Damn right" Naruto stated proudly, walking over to Fayt," Come here", He said, pulling Fayt away as Cliff followed suit," Excuse us for a moment Nel-chan, we gots guy stuff to talk about!."

"H-hey!" Fayt stammered as he was pulled off by Naruto, Naruto forcing Fayt to form a huddled circle with himself and Cliff. Nel watched this with a curious look, trying not to appear amused by Naruto's way of pulling this off.

"Look Fayt, Nel risked her fine ass to save us and we agreed to her terms" Naruto began in a loud whisper," It's only right we help her out."

"What about the UP3!", Fayt demanded with a light glare to Naruto.

"Fuck the UP3!", Naruto stated in another loud whisper", The UP3 is going to get us in trouble with a hot ninja girl who can throw fireballs and one thing I've learned is NEVER piss off a girl who could throw fireballs... or throw hard punches... or summon snakes... or who can swing a ramen ladle REALLY hard... or has a blaster!."

.".. Are you for real?" Fayt asked with a frown to Naruto, before turning his head to an amused Cliff", Is he for real?."

"Sadly he is" Cliff said with a light grin to Naruto who seemed to be pouting as he recalled the women in question to all those thoughts, lightly elbowing his side to snap his fellow blonde out of it before he looked to Fayt with a frown," Look kid, now isn't the time or place for that sort of thing."

"That might be so, but still..." Fayt muttered, looking quite uneasy about the whole thing, having been taught to always follow the laws.

"Excuse me, but can you save your discussion for later?" Nel suddenly spoke, all three boys lifting their heads out of the huddle at the same time to look towards her," We REALLY need to get moving... unless you all would like to return to your cells?."

"No thanks!" Cliff said with a sheepish look as the boys broke their huddle.

"Alright then, lets move it" Nel said with a sigh, turning to face the city below," Once we're out of the city I'll be more then happy to explain everything."

"There, you see?" Naruto asked Fayt with a smirk, starting to follow after Nel," For now lets all just get along and stick with the nice lady."

.".. Fine." Fayt sighed, letting the matter drop for now before following after Naruto with Cliff by his side.

"Good, My people have a wagon waiting for us just outside of the city" Nel called back to them," The exit's to the east, let's go before someone finds us."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too worried about that Nel-chan." Naruto said, a fox like smile on his lips as the tattoo's on his body lit up in response to his chakra.

000

Albel Nox was NOT a happy man, this being shown to the people of Airyglyph as he charged at one Naruto Uzumaki, who dodged the first swing of Albel's sword" Worthless peon, hold still!", Albel roared, suddenly throwing his shoulder into a surprised Naruto's chest, before shoving his blade forward into his chest... only to once more growl as the blonde turned into a puff of smoke.

Albel had led his brigade into the city, having been making his way towards the city gates when one of his men spotted the very blonde they were going to hunt... as well as five other similar looking blonde's doing various things in the city. After watching his men run into trap after trap, ending up making fools of themselves, Albel jumped into the fray, cutting through blonde after blonde, each one seeming to be replaced by two more.

"Wow, your pretty good" One of the nearby Kage Bunshin spoke from atop the roof above Albel, the Black Brigade leader leveling a glare up at the fake," But I HAVE to ask... what's with the skirt? Are you one of "those" kinds of guys, because the boss happens to LOVE wo-"

Albel Nox had never before thrown his sword at an enemy as there was only a small chance it would actually do damage and then you were weaponless... but never had he been so angry as to both do this and pull it off. Albel Nox watched his sword stab into the ground before him, the angry warrior pulling it from the snow just as he noticed two more Naruto's running from three of his Black Brigade, Albel spotting one of the walls of the city now bore the words "Uzumaki Naruto was here and kicked ass!"

Of course being a different planet and all it just looked like chicken scratch, but it was still insulting to see.

000

(The following scene had to be done closely to the game as it's important info and all that, though those who know can just skim through it if they like)

"LOVE Kage Bunshin, I do I do I D~OOOO" Naruto sang to himself, lightly wondering what was with the pissed of skirt wearing guy who seemed to be the only one capable of dealing with his Bunshin with no problem... he'd have to watch out for that one later down the line.

"You better keep your promise and show me how to do that." Nel informed Naruto as they exited the city limits, looking a bit eager to learn the strange abilities he had at his beck and call.

"Fine fine... just remember you lost the bet from before." Naruto said with a smirk to the red head, who frowned deeply at the reminder.

"Can it wait until we're in a safe area?." Nel asked him with a sigh, wishing she could find a way out of doing whatever he had in mind.

"I suppose" Naruto mused with a nod of his head, pausing as he caught sight of a wagon not much further, what appeared to be a female figure besides it," That your people?."

"That it is" Nel said with a light smirk at spotting the wagon and woman," Come on," she told the three men with her before speed walking over to the wagon.

"More women?" Cliff said in surprise, gaining an amused smirk as they arrived at the wagon," I'm starting to really like this side..."

"I am SO telling Mirage." Naruto mocked him, Cliff taking a swing at the other blonde's head, which Naruto barely dodged before they made their way over to the wagon with a silent Fayt.

"Sorry we're late" Nel said to the woman before her, who wore similar clothing to Nel, but had short light brown hair and amber colored eyes, giving her a somewhat more tomboyish appearance," We ran into a few snags in the road."

"Don't worry Lady Nel, it hasn't been too long" the young woman reported with a light smile," All preparations for our departure are complete and we're ready to go."

"Good work Tynave." Nel said with a smile to her subordinate.

"We're just glad your safe." Tynave replied, making Naruto gain a curious look.

"We're?." Naruto asked, lightly looking around for anyone else, only for the Wagon door to open up, revealing a lovely girl, and also wearing similar clothing to Nel and Tynave, with light purple hair and ruby red eyes.

"Are these the one's Lady Nel?." the girl asked with a soft voice, smiling lightly as she looked them over, all three men each blushing lightly at the girls smile.

"That's right Farleen" Nel said with a light smile to the younger girl," All three of them are engineers from Greeton."

"So we were right." Tynave sighed, seeming relieved to hear Nel's words.

"That's great! Now we'll be able to complete it!." Farleen followed with, her smile widening. Both Naruto and Cliff sent a look to one another, both wondering what exactly the girls meant by completing "It."

"Exactly, but we don't have time to talk right now, we need to get moving" Nel said with a frown, looking back towards the city gates," We don't want the Dragon Brigade on us after all."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the name, did that mean there was a Brigade of Knights that rode Dragons... or were THEY dragons themselves? More so, did this mean there were other brigade's as well? Traveling to different planets always made him overly analyze these things...

Both girls saluted Nel before moving into the wagon, Tynave moving into the back while Farleen moved to the front, seeming to be the one who would be driving the Wagon.

"Alright you three, get in the wagon so we can get out of here." Nel said as she turned to the three men, motioning them into the Wagon. Fayt was the first to enter, followed by Cliff, and then Naruto, whom was followed by Nel as she shut the wagon's door right before the wagon began to move

"So, you mind introducing us to there two fine young ladies?." Cliff asked Nel in a some what flirty tone from his seat between Naruto and Fayt.

"As I called them before, this is Tynave and the driver is Farleen" Nel informed the Klausian as she motioned towards the tomboy looking girl to her right before motioning to the front where Farleen was driving the wagon," They are my eyes and ears within Airyglyph... They're also the one's who told me about you three"

"Lucky us." Fayt mused in a low tone.

"I suppose we owe you two our gratitude" Naruto mused with a soft smile to Tynave, who blushed lightly at the sight of it," Thank you."

"D-don't mention it." the girl replied, lightly looking away from the blonde so her blush didn't become noticed.

"All women hm?" Cliff mused with a smirk, a bit amused at Tynave's reaction to Naruto," I'm sure not complaining."

"Aquaria is ruled by the Holy Mother of the Church of Apris" Nel explained to Cliff, lightly raising an eyebrow as she noted Tynave's reaction to Naruto," We employ many more women than Airyglyph."

"Sounds kinda sexist." Naruto mused with a frown, seeming to be thinking over the situation's between the two countries.

"Considering the Uniform would you want to join?" Cliff asked with an amused grin, motioning to the outfits all three girls wore, making Naruto realize that he wouldn't look good in a miniskirt... well, at least without pulling a certain jutsu he wouldn't

"The Church of Apris?" Fayt felt the need to ask, wanting to better understand the people he might just be helping built who knows what.

"Yes, the church of the Sun God Apris" Tynave spoke up, her blush having receded," The Holy Mother leads both the Church and Aquaria as our Queen."

"A Theocracy then." Fayt noted with a nod of his head.

"Great." Naruto sighed, frowning at the idea of a country being run by a religion... wondering what they would do to someone who didn't follow the same teachings they themselves did.

"A country filled with Temple Maidens... now I HAVE to see this place." Cliff mused with a wider smirk, elbowing Naruto in the side to snap his fellow blonde out of whatever thoughts he had trapped himself into again.

.".. You have a point" Naruto mused with a smirk of his own, allowing him to fantasize a county filled with hot women all wearing outfits like Nel,"Ah, glorious", he sighed, earning a glare from Nel and a frown from Tynave, the latter currently reevaluating the younger of the blonde men.

"Nel" Fayt suddenly spoke up, earning the attention of all those in the back of the wagon," I'd appreciate it if you answered my questions now."

"Right, But before that, might I ask one thing?" Nel replied with a question of her own.

"What?" Fayt asked, curious as to what she wanted to ask.

"Are you three really engineers from Greeton?" Nel asked, for some reason sending Naruto a quick glance as she asked this of Fayt.

"W-well..." Fayt stammered, surprised at the question.

"Hey now, you still don't trust us?" Cliff asked with a frown to Nel.

"It's not that, it's just" she began to speak only to pause for a moment, looking for the right words," The fact that you possess special technology and knowledge is clear to me.. so, yes, it does seem likely that you are who you say", she said with a frown coming to her lips as she each gave them a look over," Still, something doesn't fit! The way you respond to danger, and your fighting ability indicate that you are not telling me everything... not only that", She said, this time looking right at Naruto," The way you act and fight... it's like you've lived for battle and war, how easily you kill shows your quite familiar with the act", Nel said to him, looking like she was ready to say more only to stop as she returned to look at Fayt," It's obvious your all not regular engineers... so you can see why I have my doubts."

"Well..." Fayt responded, once more at a loss for words as he thought over her own words, before he shot Cliff a look as if asking for help.

"Okay, you got a point" Cliff spoke up for Fayt, smiling lightly," But it seems to me you're just going to have to take our word, I mean we got nothing to gain by lying to you anyway."

"Yes, I see what you mean?" Nel replied with a frown still marring her lips, obviously still having her doubts.

"… Yet you still don't trust us?", Naruto asked the red head with a light frown, though he figured they hadn't done too much to earn said trust yet... and it didn't help with Fayt trying to back them out of their agreement.

"No, I trust you", Nel replied with a shake of her head, granting the blonde ninja a light smile as well," In any case, I was ordered by Her Majesty to bring you to Aquaria and I will do all that I must to follow through on her orders".

"Then, could you please answer my questions?", Fayt asked Nel with a frown marring his face, having grown a bit frustrated from being denied answers for so long.

"Yes, Since you're unfamiliar with this region, I'll fill you in on the details while explaining our current situation", Nel informed the three of them, before looking to Tynave for help," Tynave, the map".

"Yes, ma'am", The girl replied, turning a bit to dig into a nearby container, soon pulling out a large map that seemed to show both Countries involved in the current war. Naruto ran his eyes over it quickly, seeming to be taking in every part of it before shooting Cliff a quick look, which the Klausian returned before both returned to the conversation.

"This is Airyglyph, the city we just left", Nel began to explain, pointing out the city on the map for them," Everything to the west of this line is the nation of Airyglyph, a military superpower", She informed them, before motioning to the east area of the map," All this in the east is the Land of Aquaria… do you follow so far?".

Both Cliff and Fayt nodded, while Naruto merely gained a frown,"… The King's name is Airyglyph to right? Like the country and the City?".

"Um… yes", Nel replied, looking confused as to what he was getting at.

"… What kind of person names his capital city and country after himself?", Naruto felt the need to ask, eyes moving into fox like slits.

He received blank expressions from the two women as silence took hold within the wagon, Cliff being the first to break the silence as he snorted in amusement.

"Now that you mention it…", Tynave noted with a light smirk, having never thought about it before," It DOES sound rather narcissistic…".

"I-I suppose", Nel coughed lightly, trying to return the conversation back on track… though she wondered why no one else had picked up what Naruto had," As I mentioned earlier, Aquaria and Airyglyph are at war. Airyglyph is a Militaristic nation that reveres power above all else, while Aquaria is a peaceful Nation that worships the Church of Apris. Aquaria and Airyglyph maintained Friendly relations until several years ago... But one day, they invaded our Territory without warning"

"It seems they'd been planning their invasion for some time, Airyglyph is A frigid land ringed by mountains so food production has never been easy here… especially in winter", Tynave followed with, frowning as she did," We believe they were after our land, fertile with the blessing of Apris".

"A war of aggression, huh?", Cliff noted with a frown, arms crossing over his chest as he'd heard many a war being fought for similar reasons on planets like this... and even the more advanced ones.

"Correct", Nel said with a nod," There was no diplomacy, only outright military aggression. We Resisted, but were outmatched. Somehow, we managed to hold them back, but The border town of Arias was laid to waste", She paused for a moment after mentioning this, allowing herself to recall the battle in question before continuing," Still, the war has not been Completely one-sided. We may be lacking in military power, but we do have Runology".

"That's what you called Symbology earlier", Naruto noted, recalling how Nel had used her own tattoo's power to make use of her mental energy, just as Cliff and Fayt used their Physical energy for their own skills.

"A secret art handed down by the followers of Apris", Nel explained, lightly lifting her right arm up to show one of her tattoos," We inscribe special Runes into our flesh that enable us to invoke normally impossible phenomenon… Thus the name".

"So that's how you broke the prison bars", Cliff recalled, shooting Naruto another quick glance, which once more was returned.

"Correct", Nel replied, before shooting Naruto a curious glance," You called it… Symbology right?".

"Yep, it was the name we gave it back in Greeton", Naruto explained with a large smile," Though it seems you use it a bit differently then we do".

"I noticed", Nel said, gaining a light smirk," I'd be quite appreciative if you would share your own knowledge in better utilizing the Rune's at some point… if your willing".

"Only if you ask nicely", Naruto replied in a teasing tone, before noting the frown Fayt was shooting him," Oi, What I intend to teach someone is none of yours or anyone else's business".

Fayt sighed, having figured as much already, before he looked towards Nel once more," So what's stopping you from using your Runology to fight back?", he asked, moving the conversation along.

"There's only a few of us that can use Runology, far too few to help us stand up to Airyglyph", Nel replied with a sigh," That's why we decided to develop a weapon that makes use of Runology. It's a man made weapon that uses the special energy evoked by Runology as a power source. The engineers have named that energy 'Channeled Force' ".

"Channeled Force?",Naruto asked with a frown," It better be cooler then it sounds".

"… What does being cold have anything to do with it's effectiveness?", Nel asked with a confused look.

"Never mind", Naruto groaned, palming his forehead, he should have known such a term wouldn't be around on a underdeveloped planet," Anyways, so what is this Channeled Force stuff?".

"It's similar to lightning, But there are still a number of problems preventing us from cooperating the weapon", Tynave replied in place of Nel, frowning as she explained.

"A power… similar to lightning?", Fayt repeated with a somewhat surprised look, instantly thinking of Electricity.

"Just when our research ground to a halt, Tynave and Farleen told me about you three", Nel continued to explain them," They also brought back a fragment of that thing that fell into Airyglyph. It was of great interest to our researchers, as according to their research the fragment was of a material they could not identify… After that they decided that we should enlist your aid in our weapons development, so I was sent in".

"So you're asking us to help develop a weapon that uses channeled force?", Fayt asked bluntly, not sounding too happy about this at all.

"Yes, That is correct"

"Hey, I bet we could use their power to make us a communicator", Cliff noted with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yeah, A Radio Wave device maybe… if this Channeled Force is what I think it is", Fayt followed with," It might be our ticket out of here… but still", He sighed, looking to Nel," We can't do this for you".

"Ho-", Naruto began to speak up, lightly glaring at Fayt for his words, only to have Cliff shoot him a look that said to let it go for the moment.

"Didn't I say refusal wasn't an option?", Nel asked coldly, eyes narrowing at Fayt. She was really starting to get annoyed by his constant refusals after previously agreeing to help out with whatever they needed.

"But you're talking about a weapon that will kill many people!", Fayt argued firmly," I don't want to have any part of that.. Plus, we don't have any time to spare", Fayt finished, shooting both Cliff and Naruto a look, deciding to ignore Naruto's frown.

"I understand your situation", Nel sighed, recalling the story she had been told back in the Airyglyph Dungeons," you need to hurry to save your father, correct?".

"Yes"

"You admit this is a personal problem… not one that concerns us?", Nel asked him, shooting him a some what annoyed glance.

"True, but…", Fayt spoke unsurely for a moment, before looking to Naruto with a determined gleam in his eyes,"… What you said back in the Aqueducts… didn't you mean it?".

Naruto lost his glare instantly, recalling the conversation before sighing dramatically," Right, perhaps I should have worded it better then", He mused with a chuckle, still a bit peeved at Fayt… but Naruto himself had forgotten exactly why they were with the teenager in the first place.

Nel frowned at this, realizing she was losing her one true supporter in the group from whatever the two were talking about", Our country is at war, both people on BOTH sides are dying!", She spoke passionately, trying to get through to Fayt and get Naruto back on her side", A quick end to all of this will reduce the number of lost lives, THAT is why we need this weapon!."

"This is starting to remind me of my old Earth history lessons..." Cliff muttered to himself, shaking his head at the situation.

"Even if all that is true, it's not a good enough reason for me to build a weapon." Fayt stated firmly, knowing he was pissing the red head off but he would NOT be the cause of who knows how many deaths.

"I see, so your going back on your word?" Nel demanded, though before Fayt could retort she turned her glare towards Naruto," And you Uzumaki, does your word mean so little in the end?."

.".. I never go back on my word" Naruto spoke plainly, looking back at Nel with a blank expression," That's my nindo Nel-chan... I'll help you as best I can, though at the same time I have to protect Fayt until my boss can take him off my hands, but so long as he's around you and all that I can do both."

Nel smiled at this", Good, now if we can just get your friend here on board", She said, turning to look to Fayt, who was once more annoyed with Naruto's reasoning.

"Alright, how about we all just calm down here?" Cliff spoke up for the first time in a while, a large grin on his face as he put a hand on Fayt's shoulder to help sooth him," Why don't we just take this one step at a time, there's no need to be overly hasty after all."

"We have no other choice but to be hasty, the war with Airyglyph will continue to escalate unless we do something" Nel spoke, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke to the Klausian," If we complete the new weapon the situation would shift in our favor, then its a simple matter of forcing the opposition into submission."

"Is THAT the teaching of Apris?" Fayt asked in a disgusted tone, not liking the situation more and more.

"Of course not" Nel replied with a firm tone, frowning at the accusation," Our God and Queen would never wish such things upon anyone... yet if we do not act both will find themselves without followers", She said, regaining a glare aimed at Fayt", Or would you rather we submit to their swords like lambs to the slaughter?."

"That's not what I mean!," Fayt argued back at her.

"But it IS what your saying." Nel challenged in a cool tone of voice

"Nel-chan, stop twisting Fayt's words around." Naruto sighed, finding himself bored with all that was going on inside of the wagon, why couldn't something happen to switch the fo-

"Oh no!" Farleen called from the front of the wagon, Naruto cursing himself for causing whatever it was.

"What is it Farleen?" Nel demanded, instantly on her feet as she moved to see what her subordinate was worried about.

"We have company and from the looks of it it's the Dragon Brigade!" Farleen responded, this being proven as they heard something roaring from a distance behind the wagon.

"They caught up with us!" Nel asked in surprise, before cursing as she slammed a fist into the side of the wagon," Damn it! We were so close to Kirsla too..."

"So what's the big deal, dealing with some dragons should be no problem for the amazing Uzumaki Naruto", Naruto said in a cocky tone, rising to his feet as he moved up to Nel with a confident look on his face," So, how are we gonna fight these things off?."

"We're not." Nel shot back with a frown.

.".. Well that sounds boring." Naruto whined, really wanting to fight a real dragon as he'd never seen one back on his planet and had yet to see any on any other planet he'd been to since entering the Star Ocean.

"Lady Nel" A serious faced Tynave spoke up, drawing the attention of all those in the wagon," You and the engineers should sneak away before the dragons grow too close, Farleen and myself will keep their attention."

"That's too risky!" Fayt spoke up, jumping to his feet like the others now were, Cliff shrugging as he rose to his feet so as to not be the only one sitting any more," What would happen if they caught up to you?."

"Don't worry, we've gotten away from their kind many times!" Farleen called back with a sweet smile on her face.

"Still..." A frowning Fayt replied, feeling a bit guilty he had been so unwilling to help these girls and yet they were willing to risk their lives to make sure he and his companions got away safely.

"Tynave, Farleen... I'm counting on you" Nel spoke up, her face blank of any expression as she spoke to both her subordinates, before looking to Naruto, Cliff, and Fayt," Alright you three, lets get going."

Fayt suddenly put his hand on Nel's shoulder, making her turn to face him," This is insane! Your just going to let them do this?", He demanded, not wanting any more people risking themselves for his sake.

"Don't worry too much about it Fayt" Naruto spoke up, a smirk on his face as he cracked his knuckles," I'll make sure nothing bad happens to the girls, datte-bayo."

000

Gavin of the Dragon Brigade had long grown used to the cold air of his country, as most of the time it was snowing just as it was at that point. It had been simple to track the Wagon holding the escaped prisoners, the wagon leaving an obvious trail through the snow that the dragon mounts the brigade made use of had been trained to pick up. Once they reclaimed the prisoners and those of Aquaria that had helped them escaped he was sure Duke Vox would promote him, perhaps he could become one of the Duke's personal bodyguards... though he might have some trouble with the two brigade members that were with him... perhaps if he captured the Zephyr woman? She was the most sought off Aquarian agent after all.

Gavin was so caught up in his thoughts he never noticed the wagon suddenly had four forms leaping off of it's side into the snow, hiding out of sight from himself, his mount, and his brigade members even as they continued to give chase to wagon.

Once the Dragon Brigade was out of sight the forms slid out of the snow, dusting the snow clinging to their clothing off of themselves as they did," So, that was the Dragon Brigade", Naruto noted with a frown, his first meeting with a Dragon not being as amazing as he'd wish it had been.

"Yes, they're one of Airyglyph's three military branches" Nel explained, not at all bothered by the cold despite her outfit," They each ride upon the backs of Air Dragon and are not to be trifled with," She informed him in a stern tone, which he just shrugged to", Time to go, While they're distracted we can go through Kirsla and enter Aquaria territory."

"I still don't like the idea of leaving them behind like this" Fayt spoke up, having trouble getting the snow out of his hair it would seem," Even with Naruto's plan who knows if it'll be enough?."

"Yes, there's a good chance they'll still be caught" Nel reasoned with a blank tone," But there's nothing we can do about that, we need to get moving, they knew the dangers of their mission when they accepted it..."

"W-what!" Fayt demanded, looking angry at how easily she seemed ready to abandon her comrades.

"Enough Fayt" Naruto spoke up, moving over to the angry bluenette," It was the same way back in my world and its not your place to speak against it", Naruto informed him... before grinning lightly," Still, thanks to my amazing planning we have nothing to worry about, the girls will both be just fine."

"You can't know that" Fayt told Naruto with a frown on his face," You have no idea how dangerous dragons could be, so saying everything will be just fine doesn't meant a thing!"

"I think that's enough" Cliff spoke up in a stern tone, getting a little tired of Fayt and Naruto butting heads constantly. The Klausian then looked to Nel, arms crossed over his chest," We'll be safer once we reach Aquaria right?."

"Yes, I can guarantee you that much." Nel replied with a nod of her head, glad things were getting back on track.

"Alright then, let's get going and once we get there we can decided what's what" Cliff offered to Naruto and Fayt," How's that sound?."

"Yeah, but..." Fayt began as Naruto nodded in agreement.

"You want Tynave and Farleen's sacrifice to go to waste?" Cliff asked coldly, trying to get Fayt to see reason," Whatever their objective might be, they're risking their lives to save us!."

.".. Fine, your right." Fayt relented, letting it go for now.

"Good, it's about damn time" Naruto sighed, before grinning over at Nel," So lead the way Nel-chan!."

"Agreed." Nel replied, smiling lightly back to the blonde before starting to lead the way through the snow. She was hiding her worry for her subordinates well... but it was there and she could only hope if the girls did end up caught that Naruto's plan would save them.

000

"Got ya!" Gavin laughed as he sent his Dragon forward, the large beast slamming into the wagon from behind, sending it tippling over, crashing into the snow on which it had been traveling before skidded for a bit. The horse's whom had been pulling it were freed from their bonds, instantly running off and leaving the wagon behind," You all come out or me and my Brigade mates here will rip that wagon apart!."

The Four riders were met with silence, until the form of Naruto Uzumaki slid out of the wreckage with a defiant stare, hands up once he got to his feet," You got us, just don't do anything rash... my companions were injured in the crash", Naruto said in a plain tone as he slowly walked up to the Dragon riders.

"Hmph, we were only ordered to bring you prisoners back... though considering you have Aquarian dogs in there we might be willing to let them live as well." Gavin said with a smirk from under his helmet, knowing he would need proof of Zelphyr's defeat and capture... that and Aquarian women were known to be quite the lookers and the brigade could use the stress relief...

"Thank you good sir" Naruto said with bright smile, pausing as he found himself just a few feet from Gavin's dragon now," I... do have one thing to say though and I'm quite sure you and your friends here won't like it whatsoever..."

"Oh?" Gavin asked with an annoyed frown, wondering if any of the prisoners or Aquarians had managed to slip away," and what would be boy?."

Naruto smirked," Bunshin Daibakuha", He said simply, the tattoo's on his body suddenly glowing with chakra before "Naruto" exploded just feet from Gavin's mount. The explosion of the Kage Bunshin took the Dragon Knights by surprise as before they knew it their dragons were roaring in pain, face's damaged by the chakra explosion and blinded. The Dragons flailed about, the pain ridding them of all reason as they soon thrashed enough to send each of the men mounted on them flying off and crashing into the snow before taking off in random directions, roaring out as if that would some how lessen their pain.

Gavin groaned from the ground, having been thrown off his mount and dropped quite a bit... in heavy ass armor at that right onto his face. Thankfully his helmet kept his face from hitting the ground... but it still hurt. Gavin slowly pushed himself to his feet, just as he heard the cries of his men from behind. Gavin managed to get into a sitting position, turning to find two more Bunshin wielding kunai, having took advantage of the downed men to stab them in the back of the neck, both Bunshin now focused on Gavin now, a cold look unseen in the real Naruto's eyes. Gavin stared in horror, starting to back away, looking frantically for his sword only to find it no where in sight. Before he could do any more he was hit from behind and knocked out, the form of Tynave frowning down at him... having used his own sword to knock him out.

"That... was surprisingly simple" Tynave noted with a frown, before looking to the Bunshin with a light smile," Um... thanks Narutos?", She offered, unsure how to speak to the copies the real Uzumaki had left to assist her and Farleen, the later whom was gathering what supplies they had in the wagon.

"Eh, the boss is just amazing like that and as his copies we are even more so." one of the Naruto's said with a cocky smirk.

"If you'd like we could stay until we run out of chakra to help you girls make it some where safe." The other Bunshin offered with a bright smile of his own.

"Thanks, but we should be fine now" Tynave replied, only to wince as she heard Farleen cry out from within the wagon, followed by the sound of something breaking,"... Well, mostly."

"If your sure." The Bunshin said with a sigh, wishing he could hang out with the two pretty girls longer... but oh well, such was the life of a clone. With a single flare of chakra they both burst into smoke, leaving the two girls alone in the snow.

Tynave shook her head, smiling softly as she turned to the wagon, moving to help out Farleen with the supplies. Naruto Uzumaki was... a strange guy she admitted, but she couldn't help but feel better knowing someone like him was keeping Nel safe... that and he was the sort of guy she herself was drawn to," Should have kept the copies around", Tynave sighed to herself... only to tense as she felt the clawed hand suddenly wrap around her neck from behind.

"Yes... that was foolish of you" Albel Nox spoke with a smirk, glad he now had something to draw his target in. With a hit to the back of the Aquarian girls head with the hilt of his Katana he let her drop to the ground, motioning to the nearby Black Brigade members he had brought with him to go into the wagon to collect the other girl," Just knock her out, if any of you maggots leaves a mark on them you'll be wishing you'd never picked up a sword", Albel added, knowing quite well how some of his Brigade members could get when it came to the enemy, but there would be no purpose in roughing up a single girl... at least at the moment.

As his men moved forward to claim Farleen, Albel looked down at Tynave... before simply making his way to his horse. That fool Shelby better have the Facility ready for him, this was all set to make sure this "Uzumaki" was worthy of his attention. Should the boy make it to Albel himself then he was worth the trouble and if not... well he wouldn't need to two women after that then.

000

Naruto smiled as the Bunshin's memories reached him, feeling much better that everything seemed to be going so well.

000

Hmm... really need to put some more action into this I suppose, but don't worry my readers as once the rescue mission for Tynave and Farleen comes up I'll be giving 120% in making it as action packed as possible.

For those wondering, the Giant Grab fight took me about a minute to beat, hence the way I wrote it out. Naruto and the others are having an easy time so far on Elicoor as unlike the game, I would see Naruto, Cliff, and Nel having more skill then Fayt. The game always had the new characters close to level of Fayt of course, which makes no sense as they have been fighting a LOT longer. Albel will be where we get to see Naruto really fight, while Fayt, Cliff, and Nel will be dealing with Shelby and the Black Brigade. I'm hoping to get to the rescue mission two chapters from now, the next being the events leading up into it while giving our foursome time to bond a bit more.

As promised, since so many asked for it, Naruto's interrogation!

000

The Guard just felt... confused, having heard all the horror's the Inquisitor would deal upon his victims, that the ultimate punishment one could receive would to be given into the hands of this man. Yet he found himself for once not hearing screams... but something else entirely.

THWACK!

"Ah, you JUST missed it" Naruto whined from his bound position, trying to look back at the pissed off fat man whipping at his back, the lashes made seeming to vanish mere seconds after they were made," A little to the left, like an inch."

"Damn you!"

THWACK!

"THERE you go! That itch was KILLING me" Naruto sighed in relief, glad the annoyance was no longer plaguing him," Alright, you can get back to the interrogating thing fatso-san."

"HOW DARE YOU!."

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

".. Someone's sensitive about their extra chins" Naruto noted with a helpful tone," You know if you got out more, maybe ran some laps... a LOT of laps... like a Million-."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" The Inquisitor demanded, tossing his whips aside as he grabbed another, this one with spikes added on the end for causing more permanent damage," Take this you little blonde bastard!."

THWAAAAACK!

".. I'm pretty sure my parents were married" Naruto said after a moment, to the amazement of the Inquisitor, only for Naruto to smile as the guard peeked in to see if what he was hearing was real," Oh hey, mind telling the real Inquisitor he can come in, it seems his fat weak ass little sister has been using his toys without him."

"Th-that IS the Inquisitor" The guard replied, before wondering why he had even answered.

"Really?" Naruto asked with honest surprise, looking back at the seething hooded fat man,"... If you were going to get someone with breasts why not get an actual woman... they'd most likely whip harder too."

"GAAAAAH!" The Inquisitor roared in anger, charging forward to pummel Naruto from behind... only to forget the blonde's legs were free. With a single swing of his leg backwards, Naruto's heel met the Inquisitors... well you can guess. With a squeak the fat man dropped, holding the area between his thick thighs while groaning in pain on the ground.

"Huh, should watch where he's waddling" Naruto noted with a blink of his eyes, before looking to the guard with fox like slits for eyes," Sooo... can I go back to my cell now?."

The guard was seriously thinking of transferring to the Black Brigade after this, Albel Nox couldn't be worse then dealing with the crazy blonde prisoner happily kicking his feet before him.


End file.
